


Still Hunting after not so many years

by CGAdam



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-02-20 17:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 100,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2437742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CGAdam/pseuds/CGAdam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Key showed countless Vaults among the stars, and the Hunters are living up to their title. Will this be the Vault of endless riches and immeasurable fame, or just another door to nothing but tentacles and disappointment? I think we all know the answer to that: MAAAAAYBEEEEE. (All the Hunters, Action, Adventure, BL2 style humor.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Of all the planets in all the galaxies, you had to drop into orbit around mine.

"Is anyone else getting that feeling?"

Axton pulled his gaze away from the light of the stars swirling past the transparent dome of the ship presently named _The Fiery Pearlescent Meat Grinder_ and looked over to the red-headed girl bouncing in her seat. "What feeling is that, exactly?"

"The 'night before a big event' type feeling," Gaige said, leaning forward in her beanbag chair and staring raptly at the stars. "It's taken us six weeks to get here, but we're _finally_ about to visit our first planet since leaving Pandora!" Her smile stretched almost literally ear to ear. "It's like Christmas Eve!"

"It _does_ remind me of Mercenary Day morning," Salvador admitted, polishing the barrels of his minigun. "I sorta feel like _mi abuela_ should come in singing with a plate of guns."

Gaige blinked. "A _plate_ of guns?"

"Yep! Every year, we'd start off Mercenary Day by clearing out some of the more violent bandit groups around the village for free. Abuela always let us use her family heirloom pistols for it." He sighed, a happy smile on his face. "She'd stay up all night polishing 'em for us."

Axton let the baffled silence hang in the air a few more seconds, then coughed. "Well, I guess it reminds me of the nights we'd stop off at a free port. That was usually right before we got dropped into a combat zone." He gave a sort of crooked smile. _"Nobody_ parties harder than troops that know they could be dead in a few hours."

Gaige rolled her eyes. "Thanks for killing the mood, Darren Downer."

"No, really! We all had a great time!" He leaned back, laughing. "My favorite was this one port, right before making planetfall on a _real_ hellhole of a world. Sarah pulled a few favors and got us off the transport before anyone else, and we beelined it straight for the fanciest hotel around." His grin edged into the more lecherous side. "Thank god they had good room service. We didn't _leave_ that room for thirty-six hours. Sarah had just learned this thing where-"

"OOOkay, moving on!" Gaige yelled. "How about you, Krieg? This feel like anything special to you?"

Kreig grunted and spun the blade on his axe with one finger. "Every night before the blue sun rises and sends its happy heat into the world!"

Salvador scratched his head. "Was that depressing or hopeful?"

"Morning, all. Anyone else want coffee?"

At the sound of Maya's voice, Krieg leaped off his ragged, tattered chair and bounded to her side. "Morning, sunshine!"

Sal and Gaige looked at each other. "Oooooh..."

Maya turned a puzzled glance on them as she set the silver carafe on the table. "What was that?"

"Light dawning," Gaige said cryptically. "Is that the real stuff, or liquified and flavored nutrient paste?"

"Real, of course," Maya replied, taking a drink from her own mug. "We're about to enter the system. That _definitely_ calls for actual coffee."

"It also calls for our pilot," Axton said, glancing past Maya as the elevator slid seamlessly back into the floor. "Wasn't Cassidy with you?"

"She went to get Zero," Maya told him. "He's been in the shooting range for the past couple hours trying to finish one more project before we get there. Not to worry, though, she can drop us out of lightspeed from anywhere on the ship." Maya settled into her rocking chair. "So, what were you talking about?"

"The fun of anticipation!" Gaige chirped. "How about it, Maya? Were there any big holidays you looked forward to as a kid?"

Maya sipped her coffee and made a face that had nothing to do with flavor. "Not really. Athenas didn't allow the celebrations that most human worlds do."

"Makes sense, given that the planet was run by a bunch of pessimistic monks," Axton quipped. "I mean, 'Order of the Impending Storm'? Talk about gloom and doom."

"There must have been _something_ ," Gaige insisted, shooting Axton a dirty look. "Wasn't there at least one night you waited for all year?"

Maya pursed her lips for moment, then her expression brightened. "There was one thing," she said. "The night before the carnival."

" _Que es, senorita?_ "

"It was a local thing," Maya explained. "Some planetary alignment that the Order decided was worthy of a celebration. They never _let_ me go, but when I was ten, I started sneaking out for at least one night of the party."

"Breaking rules early, eh, _chica?_ " Salvador teased.

"And never regretted it once," Maya said firmly. "If I hadn't started back then, I might never have met you. Guys. Any of you guys." She took a large gulp of coffee, then glanced over at the elevator. "Oh, look, the assassin and our pilot are here. Good timing, you two."

"The turtle finished five minutes ago!" Krieg groused. "Was the rabbit sleeping?"

Cassidy jerked her thumb at Zero. "Blame my big brother, who wouldn't walk away from his latest bullet work."

"Bullet artistry Requires concentration," Zero insisted. "I couldn't just _stop._ "

"Well, you pushed it right to the limit," Gaige said. "What were you working on, anyway?"

:) "Anticipation." Zero handed Gaige a rolled up sheet of paper and walked over to Cassidy's command chair.

Maya circled around behind Gaige and peered over her shoulder. "So? What is it this time?"

Gaige unrolled the paper. Her mouth dropped open as she examined Zero's handiwork. " _Whoa..._ "

Stretched across it in burned, punctured glory, the Eridian Warrior perched atop the stone arch of the Vault symbol. Its jaws were cracked open in anticipation of its prey, the handful of tiny figures staring up at it. The Warrior's bullethole eyes glared down at them, promising the fight of a lifetime.

Gaige felt a chill run down her spine as she remembered that moment, hearing the Warrior's roar echo in her mind's ear. "Do me a favor, Z," she said, rolling up the paper and handing it to Maya. "Next time, just bullet-draw a pony or a robot or something, okay?"

"You may be waiting a while," Cassidy said, running her hands over the holographic controls all around her. "Welcome to the new world." She waved her arms, and the blurry light of hyperspace faded into blackness with pinpoints of light all around them.

Axton looked around the dome, slightly confused. "Uh, Cass? Where's the planet?"

"Underneath us." Cassidy pressed one final holographic button, and the _Fiery Pearlescent_ began a slow, even turn on its long axis.

Salvador shifted back and forth uneasily. "Sooo... are _we_ upside down right now, or is the planet?"

Gaige's face broke into a devilish grin. "Having a little trouble with the idea of variable gravity, Sally?"

"No!" He glanced at the rotating stars. "Maybe a little."

"Then this one will _really_ blow your mind." She leaned closer. "We've been flying upside down the whole way here. Six _weeks_."

"But that doesn't-"

"There it is!"

Maya was pointing to the edge of the dome. A bluish arc had begun to come into view, rising like a cerulean sun. As the ship's rotation continued, more of the planet appeared. In a few minutes, the sky above the dome was filled with the massive sphere of the planet, daylight reflecting off its atmosphere and into the room around them.

Maya spread her arms, basking in the glow. "Actual _sunlight_. We're not even planetside and I love it." She sighed happily and turned to Cassidy. "How long before we can touch down?"

"I'm setting up the shuttles," she answered. "Then I can seek out a landing site."

Axton squinted at the planet. "Are we even going to be _able_ to land? The whole planet looks like an ocean."

"Your eyes deceive you," Zero warned. "The surface is not water, Merely appears so." He pulled up a holographic screen of his own, and a patch of land appeared. "Behold an image Of the sea and shore below." The image, though slightly hazy and pixelated, did show a clear division between land and water. "I _love_ these sensors."

"Huh." Salvador looked between the planet and the video replay. "Why's the whole place blue, then?"

"It looks like the planet's sun runs a little further into that end of the visual spectrum," Gaige said, reading from another holoscreen. "Plus, there's some kind of weird diffusion effect on the planet. The blue light's getting spread out a lot more than usual." She swiped the screen to another image. "It probably won't look exactly the same once we're down there, but they'll probably still be a lot less color range than usual. On the plus side, atmosphere is human compatible, so no breathing worries."

Axton frowned at Gaige. "Wait, since when can you work the holograms like that?"

"Since about day two of the trip." Gaige stuck her tongue out at him. "Not _everyone_ has been hiding out in the gym this whole time."

"I have not-"

"Ahem." Cassidy's cough cut off the argument before it could really get started. "Our shuttles are set. Are we ready to determine our destination?"

"Should be," Axon said with a final grouchy look at Gaige. "How about it, Zero? Can those sensors pick up anything that looks like a Vault?"

Zero was already looking at several different screens. "Nothing found so far," he admitted. "But we've only just started, And the planet is vast."

"What are you looking for?" Gaige asked, peering around Zero's side. "Alien metals? Weird energy signatures? Signs of large scale construction?"

"All of the above..."

Salvador, bored by the science talk, wandered over to Maya. She was standing by the edge of the dome, staring at the blue world overhead, Krieg towering by her side. "Cool sight, eh, _amigos_?"

"Hm?" Maya glanced down at Salvador. "Oh, hi. Yeah, it's... really something." She stared out the dome again. "This might be it, Sal. I might find an answer this time around."

"And if you don't, we'll still have some fun," Salvador said with a shrug. "Never thought I'd be this far from my little village. Figured I'd live and die there." He grinned. "Guess I owe Hyperion one for attacking my town back then."

"Uh-huh."

Salvador looked up at Maya again, frowning slightly. "You okay? You're being _muy_ quiet for a Vault Hunter about to tackle a new world." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Don't you wanna throw in on picking a landing spot?"

"Is that what they're doing?" Maya blinked and inhaled sharply, seeming to come back to herself. "Time to get down to it, then." She turned and head towards the center of the dome, where the others were now examining a holographic version of the planet.

Salvador's frown deepened a little more. He leaned over to Krieg. "She okay, _muchacho?_ "

Krieg growled slightly and shrugged. "Pretty Lady _did_ seem to want fish instead of meat." He leaned even closer to Salvador and lowered his voice. "Watch the fairest in the land with me, eh, Grumpy?"

"You got it, _amigo_ ," Salvador clapped Krieg on the shoulder. "Come on. Let's see if they've decided where to land."

"Nothing shows on scans," Zero was saying as they came back into hearing range. "The ground below is empty Of any Vault clues."

"Then let's head for the other side of the planet," Maya suggested. "Maybe we'll pick something up over there."

Zero nodded. "And lower orbit May prove more useful to us In the search for Vaults," he added.

"Both good ideas," Gaige said. "Go ahead, Cassidy. Bring us in and closer."

The mottled blue world grew larger overhead as the ship moved towards the planet. "Gotta admit, I've never seen a world quite like this one," Axton said, staring up at it. "Blue, black, and white. It's weird not seeing any green or anything."

"How many planets you seen from orbit, _hermano?_ "

"I lost count a long time ago," Axton said with a small laugh. "Ten years as a commando guarantees lots of space time." He sat in his recliner and stared up at the world. "It's kinda nice coming in like this."

"What do you mean?"

"No enemy fleets, no groundside weapons taking potshots at us, not even a satellite defense network." He laced his fingers behind his head and sighed contentedly as they drew closer to the line of darkness separating night and day below. "Don't get me wrong, I'm ready to get planetside and start shooting things again. It's just nice to know that for once in my life, I won't be taking fire before my boots hit the ground."

A bloom of orange light flashed into space, fiery petals bursting across the darkness.

"The _hell?!_ "

"Explosion!" Cassidy's hands raced across the controls. "Space based blast, bearing one-three-eight!"

"Me and my big mouth," Axton growled.

"What are we looking at, Cass?" Gaige asked tightly. "Who's out here with us?"

"It seems to be two ships," Cassidy answered uncertainly. "There's also scores of smaller signals, but they're too tiny to be true starcraft."

"More explosions!" Salvador pointed as a myriad of small orange pinpricks dotted the stars. "Whoever they are, they're going all out."

"Is there any sign We have been detected yet?" Zero asked. "By either vessel?"

"They'll never spot this ship," Cassidy said firmly. "We ended our engine burn before exiting planetary eclipse, so our stealth systems ensure secrecy."

"Then that gives us time," Zero said calmly.

"Time?" Axton looked blankly at him. "For what?"

"To choose between helping one..." he turned and faced the group. "Or destroying both."

"You're kidding," Gaige finally managed to get out. "We don't even know who that is! Why are we talking about shooting them down already?"

"It's just being pragmatic," Maya assured her, catching on. "If it turns out it's a band of pirates firing on a colony ship, of course we won't take them both out. But if it were a Hyperion vessel fighting an Atlas warship..."

Zero nodded. "Good analogy."

"Well, when you put it _that_ way," Gaige conceded. "How about it, Cassidy? Can we get a decent view yet?"

Cassidy gave her head half a shake and ran her hands over the controls. "They're fighting pretty fiercely, but I think I can force a fair image..." A screen six feet wide and nearly as tall flashed into the air. "There!"

The orange pinpricks took on whole new meaning as the display came to life. The tiny points of light were the explosions of silver orbs, flying after a small craft that dodged and weaved valiantly through space. The small craft was mostly obscured by explosions and the sparks of lasers hitting its shields, and its own missile contrails.

Hovering over the cloud of explosions was another, far larger ship. It was all jagged angles and sharp points, and it was continuing to launch spheres after the smaller craft.

Axton let out a low whistle. "Well, whoever the little guy is, they sure picked the wrong opponent. That's an automated heavy cruiser."

"A what now?"

"It's a warship meant to be run by a skeleton crew, maybe one or two hundred," he said. "Those are drones it's launching at the smaller ship."

"Why is it bothering with drones?" Maya asked. "Doesn't it have guns?"

"Sure, but the cruiser is almost double _our_ size. It's designed to take on targets that aren't as maneuverable as the little guy," Axton said. "They could probably escape planetside before the warship could shoot 'em down. The drones can just keep them trapped up here and peck away at 'em until-" He broke off, getting to his feet and staring hard at the screen. "What the..."

"Axton?" Maya tapped his shoulder. "What is it?"

"Cassidy." Axton's voice and posture had gone equally stiff. "Can you give me a better picture of that little ship? Doesn't matter if it's live or not, I just need a better look at it."

She nodded and pressed a few keys. "Here."

A still image of the little ship flashed up. "I was right," Axton breathed. "That's a Dahl transport."

Everyone's eyes were on the screen now. "You're sure?" Salvador asked.

"I spent enough time in 'em," Axton said tightly. "I don't understand why it's going up against the cruiser _alone_ , though. A transport like that is usually part of a convoy or something, not out in the middle of nowhere on its own. One couldn't even _get_ way out here without extensive modif-"

He whirled around, and Maya caught a glimpse of something rare and disturbing in his eyes.

Fear.

"The side panel," he said breathlessly. "I need to see the side panel, _now_."

"Which-"

"Either, it doesn't matter! Hurry!"

A new image appeared, a blurry and distorted close up. Salvador squinted at it. "Can anyone read that?"

"It's not words," Axton said, and his voice had taken a tone that was somehow panicked, furious, and calm all at once. "It's a mural." He turned to Cassidy. "Can you get communications with that transport, without letting the warship know we're here?"

"Uh..." She checked one of her screens. "I can set up a laser link. That should let us communicate without the cruiser catching us."

"Do it." He bent over her shoulder, watching her work.

"What's going on here, Ax?" Gaige asked. "Why do you care about that transport? Because it's Dahl?"

"Dahl would execute me on sight," Axton said, still focusing on Cassidy's screen. "Only one other person cared if I got out of there alive, and that looks a _hell_ of a lot like her personal ship."

"Signal sent," Cassidy reported before Gaige could say anything else. "Try to talk now."

"Dahl transport, do you read me?" Axton's voice was tense but controlled. "Repeat, calling Dahl transport under fire, respond." He swallowed. "Sarah?" It was almost a whisper. "Are you there?"

Salvador frowned as Maya's eyes widened. He leaned in closer, lowering his voice. "Who's Sarah?"

Maya looked down to him. "His wife."

[ _Axton?!_ ] A female voice came over the radio, disbelief and hope overflowing from it. [Is that really _you?_ ]

Axton let out a sigh of relief and put a hand over his eyes. "It's me, Sarah." He made an obvious attempt to get his thoughts together. "We're close by. What's your status?"

[Bad,] she answered grimly. [Shields down to thirty percent and falling, missile reserves lower than that, engines shaky, and we can't get clear of the drones! If we could just make it into the atmosphere-]

"Hold tight," Axton ordered. "I'm on my way."

[Wait! Where _are-_ ]

"Axton out!" The transmission cut off and he turned to Cassidy. "Are the shuttles prepped?"

"Ready and raring to go," she confirmed. "Why-"

"Hoooold on, Cassie," Gaige said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You're not about to do something _monumentally_ stupid, are you, Axton? Like, say, taking one of our dropships up against that whole warship and its armada of drones?"

He didn't even blink. "Yes."

"And for whatever reason, you aren't going to ask for help, are you?"

"It's got nothing to do with Vault hunting," Axton said. "No need for any of you to follow me in on this."

Gaige folded her arms and glared at him. "I seem to recall you chasing after me when I got kidnapped, and _that_ had nothing to do with Vault hunting. If you're in this, we're in it." She glanced around the room. "Am I right?"

Krieg thumped his chest. "Let's set fire to the sky!"

"Let's say that speaks for all of us and get to work," Maya said quickly. "What's the plan?"

"That warship is tough, but it's not even looking our way," Axton said, his words fast and clipped. "We can get off one good shot before it even knows we're here, maybe take out its guns with the first hit." He looked at Cassidy. "If not, you'll be in a slugging match with a ship twice our size. I know we've got the firepower to hold our own. Are your piloting skills up to the task?"

"A chance to clash in a cosmic contest?" She grinned. "Cool."

"Thanks." He turned back to the others. "The rest of us should split up three per shuttle, one pilot and two gunners each." He looked around, embarrassed. "Uh... I'll need a pilot."

"I will be your wings If you will be my sword arm," Zero offered, stepping forward. "Who would fly with us?"

"A far-flung warrior, seeking to save his lady fair?" Krieg threw his head back and roared. "How can I _not_ join your quest?!"

"Then you three take the _Osprey_ while Gaige, Sal and I use the _Red Tail,_ " Maya said. She glanced at Gaige. "You _can_ fly it, right?"

"Of course!"

"Then let's move!"

Gaige took two steps towards the elevator, then doubled back and grabbed Cassidy in a quick hug. "Be careful, girl. There's a lot of adventuring left, so don't you lose this fight."

"Move without misgivings, M- Gaige," Cassidy said, squeezing her in return. "I'll mow down this monster."

Gaige nodded and raced to join the others as the elevator slid out of the floor. "So what's the plan?" she asked as they all piled in. "Three pronged assault on the warship?"

"That's not the top priority," Axton said, keying the lift for the hanger bay. "The warship can't hit the transport easily, and they _definitely_ won't be able to hit a couple stealthships like our shuttles. Besides, with any luck Cassidy can keep it occupied while we help the Dahl transport. The big threat to us is the drones."

"Those little things?" Salvador scoffed. "We've killed worse in our sleep."

" _They're_ the ones doing all the shooting at the transport, and their guns _will_ be able to target us," Axton bit out. "Plus, we're severely outnumbered."

"Yeah, but they're _stupid_ ," Gaige countered as the elevator slowed. "We should get at least one free pass at 'em before their AI realizes there's a new enemy in play."

The elevator halted and the doors slide open, revealing series of metal catwalks leading to a pair of rounded black metal humps. There was space for three, but one shuttle had been left on Pandora.

Axton was sprinting for the closer of the shuttles before the elevator doors were completely open. "Cassidy! Get ready to drop!"

[Aye aye, Axton!] A pair of loud _clangs_ resounded through the hanger bay. [Magnetic latches loosed. Get strapped into your shuttles.]

"Hold on!" Gaige yelped, diving through the hatch of the other shuttle and sprinting down the short hall to the cockpit. "No one's set up yet!"

[No worries,] Cassidy assured her. [ I've got one wicked assist worked up before you ambush the automated attackers.]

Gaige slid into the pilot's seat as Maya took the gunner seat on her left. Salvador was already settled into the right side, and had his targeting systems booted up. "Okay, _Red Tail_ crew in place. How about you, _Osprey?_ "

[Ready over here,] Zero reported. [The battle intensifies. We must deploy _now_.]

Gaige pressed a few buttons and the shuttle's blast shield slid open, revealing the sky beyond. " _Whoa_."

Zero was right. The tiny specks of the drones had grown bigger as their ship had gotten closer, and the silvery dots filled the sky. The warship itself was even more intimidating, hovering over the battle like a metallic vulture.

[Is the transport still fighting?] Axton asked, his voice more tense than ever.

[Battling bravely, but beleaguered,] Cassidy reported. [She'll soon suffer defeat.] A low hum began to fill the air around them. [At least, she _would_... if we didn't unleash _this!_ ]

A massive salvo of purple energy beams lashed out at the warship, striking the larger vessel on its port quarter. The blast caught the ship completely unaware, slashing through its shields and incinerating a section of its outer hull armor.

"Linked fire," Gaige realized. "You fired both shuttle's guns _and_ the _Pearl's_ main cannon at the same time. Nice."

[And effective,] Cassidy reported. [Enemy engines at eighty percent. Now go save the small ship!]

"Launching now!" With a sudden lurch, the _Red Tail_ and _Osprey_ dropped away from the mothership and hurtled towards the firefight.

Maya shook her head and grabbed her gun controls. "Five minutes out here, and we're already in a firefight." Her mouth sharpened into a predator's smile. "I _knew_ I picked this planet for a reason."

* * *

[And so it begins! I hope you'll enjoy this one as much as my others.]  


[Next week, the battle in the sky. Thanks for reading!]   



	2. No trench runs, no thermal exhaust ports

Salvador's forte was dual wielding. He'd tried it with every type of gun and every combination of guns. He thought he knew everything there was to know about fighting with two weapons at once.

But then, he'd never been in a space battle.

Salvador laughed wildly as purple energy blasts lanced out, exploding a handful of drones into shrapnel. "Oh, ho ho, _yes!_ This is the way to _fight!_ " He whipped the fire control sticks over, tracking another cluster of drones. "So much _power!_ "

"Make good use of it!" Maya warned, firing her own guns. "They're thick enough to walk on out here!"

"Yeah, but they've got nothing for maneuverability," Gaige snorted. She dodged around a cloud of debris and her own lasers speared through a cluster of bots. "Ha! Got another bunch!"

"I am _loving_ these guns!" Salvador crowed. "Fifty-seven kills already! I'm gonna start carrying _these_ around!"

[Screw the drones, has anyone got a read on the transport?!] Axton yelled. [I can't pick her up through all this fire!]

[Thee-one-five from your bearing,] Cassidy called back. The _Pearl_ raced by overhead, twisting wildly as it evaded and returned fire with the warship. [I'll try to tap them into our transmissions.]

[Sarah! Sarah, come in! We're cutting 'em down out here, just hang on!]

[Thanks for the assist, Ax, but I think it's too little too late,] the female voice replied grimly. [Weapons are almost used up, shields are down to twelve percent, and we're starting to get instabilities in the drive system. We can't do any more good in this fight, and we won't survive much longer as it is!]

"Can you get out?" Maya called out, firing another salvo. "If we clear a path, can you make it to the planet?"

[Who are you?]

"Never mind _that_ , can you make it?!"

Something that sounded nastily like an explosion crackled over the radio. [No choice but to try!] The battered transport's engines sputtered, turning the ship's nose towards the blue sphere below. [You clear a path between us and the planet, I'll go for an emergency landing!]

[We're closer, we've got it!] They watched as the _Osprey_ swung around the transport, gunning for the drone cloud between it and the planet. Several groups of machines blasted apart, and the transport began to move-

Salvador lunged at the radio. "Ax, watch behind you!"

The _Osprey's_ fire had all been directed forward, dedicated to clearing a path. A single drone was outside their firing arc, and it streaked towards the shuttle's port side with all its speed.

Zero threw the shuttle into a dive, engines burning against space. The drone missed the shuttle's body, but crashed into the tail end, sending the _Osprey_ spinning.

[No good.] The woman's voice was controlled but disappointed. [The gap's not big enough, and more drones are moving in.]

"You guys all right?!"

[Some engine damage, _And_ we failed to clear the way!] Zero reported angrily. [It's up to you, _Red!_ ]

Gaige exhaled sharply. "Right. Hang on, guys!" The ship surged forward as she rammed full power to the engines.

[What are you _doing?!_ ] Now it was shock and disbelief filling the woman's voice. [If a drone rams you while you're moving at that speed-]

"They _won't_ ," Gaige cut her off. "Guns forward, guys! Make this count!"

"Oh, we _got_ this one!" Salvador leaned on the trigger and filled space with laserfire. " _Everything_ must die!"

Maya said nothing, her eyes focused on the wave of enemies around them. Drones fell under the combined fire like wheat before a scythe.

"One more cluster!" Gaige cut loose with her forward mounted guns, and the last grouping of drones detonated. "The way's clear, but there's more coming in! Get out of here before they get a lock!"

[ _Behind y-_ ]

A blast of green laserfire stabbed the transport's side, throwing it into a tailspin and cutting off their transmission. Gaige threw the shuttle into a hard spin, searching for the source of the fire... and found it.

The warship hung overhead, a small gun pivoting away from the crashing transport. Its _big_ guns were already glowing with energy as they charged.

The _Red Tail's_ daring move had cleared the way for the transport, but the warship had caught up to them. They were directly beneath its cannons.

A small, disbelieving laugh forced its way out of Maya's throat. "Looks like Ax was wrong."

Salvador leaned on his gun's trigger, but the warship didn't even seem to notice his fire. "We gotta get clear, _hermana!_ "

"I'm trying! We're dead center of their firing arc!"

[Hang on, Mom! I'm moving to-]

The warship fired. A cascade of energy blazed towards the tiny, vulnerable shuttle-

" _No._ "

The stream of green energy split like water around a rock. The space around the shuttle was filled with eye-searing light, but the lethal torrents of energy bypassed the _Red Tail_ entirely, not even grazing its shields.

Gaige's jaw dropped open. " _Holy_ -"

The lasers expended their charge, the green light fading as it raced harmlessly away, but the warship wasn't finished with them yet. The glow began to flare back to life-

" _I said NO._ "

A massive sphere of energy, nearly as big as the _Pearl_ itself, flared around the warship's center. Gaige stared in disbelief as the drones all around them suddenly flew at the warship, many of them clearly struggling against some massive force.

There was no resisting this. Hundreds of metal spheres unwillingly rammed their mothership, smashing into brilliant explosions and cratering the warship's midsection. As the last of the drones unwillingly crashed to their destruction, the energy sphere pulsed violently, and the biggest explosion yet ripped outward from the warship's hull. The blast threw the vessel into an uneven spin, and it spiraled away towards the planet, engines flickering as it tried to regain control of itself.

For a long minute, no one said anything. All they could do was watch the crippled vessel spiraling downward, trailing smoke and clearly fighting for any control. Finally, in a very shaky voice, Gaige said, "Well, they can't shoot us now, at least."

"Nope." Salvador looked across the cockpit, eyes gleaming as he looked at their rescuer. "How did you do _that?_ "

Maya couldn't answer. She could only sit, frozen, her left hand thrown out in a clenched fist, staring at the emptiness before them.

"Maya?" Gaige snapped her fingers in front of her eyes. "You in there?"

No reaction.

"Maya!" Salvador clambered out of his seat and darted across the small space, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Come on, _ojos azules_. You got 'em. Come on back."

"I'm... I'm here, Sal." Maya took a deep breath, and Salvador could feel her muscles loosening slightly under his hands. She unclenched her hand and smiled at him. "Thanks. I'm okay now."

"You sure?" Gaige asked nervously. "That was a hell of a thing."

"No kidding," Salvador agreed. " _How_ did you-"

"I have _no_ idea," Maya said, stretching her fingers. She stared at her palm as if she expected it to talk. "I just... reacted."

"One hell of a reaction," Salvador managed. "I'm gonna have to make sure I don't piss you off anymore."

She smiled faintly. "Don't worry."

[Gaige! Gaige, do you read?! What _was_ that?!]

"Tell you later, Ax," Gaige said uncertainly, turning back to her instruments. "You've gotta hear this one from the source."

[What the hell does _that-_ ]

"I'm showing all the drones destroyed," Gaige interrupted. "What about you?"

[I can confirm that,] Zero reported. [No machines remain with us. The warship itself...]

"Yeah, we see it," Salvador said. "It's all _kinds_ of messed up and dropping like a brick."

"Not quite a brick, but definitely not a feather, either," Gaige said, checking her controls. "It looks like they lost guns, attitude control, their drone management systems, plus scattered damage across the whole midsection of the vessel."

[Tell me they'll burn up in the atmosphere,] Axton said savagely.

"Sorry to disappoint, but that is one _tough_ ship." She gave Maya an apologetic look. "They still have enough stability for an emergency landing. It'll be a rough ride, but they'll probably survive."

Maya leaned over Gaige's shoulder. "What about you guys?" She asked. "How badly were you hit?"

[Some engine damage,] Zero said. [We're docking with the _Grinder_ To begin repairs.]

"All right, good plan. Let me just check on the transport..." Gaige turned back to her console, searching for the damaged ship.

Salvador looked back at Maya. "Seriously, though. How long have you been able to do _that?_ "

Maya shook her head. "I'm not sure I _could_ do it before now, Sal. Think back on all the big enemies we've fought. You'd think at least one of them would've prompted this kind of response."

"Maybe they just-"

"Son of a _bitch!_ "

Maya and Salvador were thrown back into their seats as the _Red Tail_ suddenly went into a hard turn, its engines firing at full power. "Gaige, what the-"

"It's the transport!" Gaige yelled. "They're going down _hard!_ "

" _How_ hard?!"

"According to sensors, they can't survive re-entry." Gaige's knuckles were white as she gripped the controls. "If they're gonna land, we've gotta help!"

The shuttle was starting to rumble as the atmosphere thickened around them and buffeted the hull. "Shouldn't we wait for the _Fiery Pearl?_ " Maya asked, shouting over the noise.

"With the _Osprey's_ engines hit, docking will take them at _least_ a few minutes! The transport will have crashed by then!"

"Can we save them alone?"

"No idea!" Gaige yelled back. "I just know after almost getting shot to pieces for these guys, I'm not letting 'em crash without a fight!"

Salvador squinted through orange glow leaking up from beneath the ship. "Can you see them?"

"No, but you can!" She pointed to his monitor. "Targeting sensors! Scan for anything metal!"

"On it!" Salvador ran his eyes over the scope, searching for any sign of the transport. Outside, the glow of friction increased, the sky beginning to lighten from black to blue.

"I've got them!" Maya yelled. "Four degrees port, about ten seconds ahead of us!"

"Okay, hang on!" Gaige punched in a series of commands, and the shuttle changed direction slightly. "Hold tight, you two! I'm gonna have to try something kinda crazy!"

"What-"

The _Red Tail_ surged liked a spurred horse, and all three Hunters were held immobile in their seats by incredible force. The intense pressure locked them into place for seven eternity-length seconds, then slacked off, the noise of re-entry fading with it.

Salvador gasped for air as his lungs were allowed to work again. "What was _that?_ "

"I fired the main drive in atmosphere," Gaige said, her own voice a little blurry. "That breaks like a million different safety rules, but we couldn't catch 'em if I hadn't." She pointed out the window. "There they are!"

The little transport was definitely in trouble. The ship was in a chaotic spin, its engines dark as it pinwheeled down.

"Dammit!" Gaige slapped the console in frustration. "This isn't going to work!"

"Why not?" Salvador asked. "We caught up."

"I wanted to use our magnetic grappling lines to slow them down, but they're _completely_ out of control! They'll crash into us or rip our hull in two if I-"

"Hold on." Maya stretched her hand towards the window and the transport beyond. Her tattoos began to glow.

Gaige looked at her doubtfully. "What are-"

"Just be ready. Don't distract me." Maya closed her eyes and tried to reach just barely into the strange place her mind went when she called on her abilities. Lashing out with her full strength would only destroy the ship. She needed to hold it, to slow it down...

" _Madre de dios!_ "

Maya opened her eyes. The transport was frozen in mid-air, immobilized in a faint yellow-purple sphere of energy. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the blue markings on her arms were blazing more intensely than any other time in her life.

Her arm also felt like lead. "I've...got it..." She gritted her teeth. "For now..."

Gaige shook her head in disbelief. "I don't know how you're doing that, but keep it up! I'm moving in to fire the anchors!"

Maya nodded, her jaw clenched. She didn't trust herself to speak. She didn't trust herself to _blink._ The skin on her left arm had begun to feel strangely hot. It was also prickling, as if she were being jabbed with a thousand tiny needles.

 _Hang on_. Salvador was staring at the transport, his knuckles white as he gripped his chair. _You've fought through worse than this. You can hold it._

 _You've got this, Pretty Lady._ For some reason, Krieg's voice came to her mind. _You can do anything._

Maya's eyes narrowed, and her focus sharpened. The pain dropped out of her left arm, and the burning stopped. The weight was still there, but it was more bearable-

"Firing anchors!" A pair of muffled _thunks_ rippled through the hull, and Gaige punched the air in triumph. "Got 'em! We're tethered!" She ran her hands over the controls. "I'm-"

Maya cried out as what felt like a ton of weight slammed down on her arm. Her tattoos went dark, and the field holding the ship vanished.

The transport's downward momentum was restored in one brutal rush. It plummeted towards the ground, dragging the smaller _Red Tail_ with it.

Salvador gripped the arms of his chair as the shuttle rattled and bucked around them. An ominous groan of strained metal began to fill the air. _"Gaige!"_

"I'm trying!" she yelled. "They've got twice our mass and a _hell_ of a lot of speed! We don't have the engine power to stop it!" Her hands raced over the controls, desperately seeking an answer. "Maya, if you've got any other tricks...!"

"I... think I'm out." It was all Maya could do to hold on to her seat. She felt winded and dizzy, unable to keep any focus in the turbulent ride.

"Then I don't have a choice!" Gaige's hand moved towards a red button. "I have to cut the anchors before-"

A shadow fell over both ships as the vast, circular hull of the _The Fiery Pearlescent Meat Grinder_ eclipsed the sun and matched its speed with the imperiled ships. [Get clear, Gaige! I've got them!]

"Nice timing, kid!" Gaige hit the button with determination instead of regret. "Detaching cables!" With another pair of metallic _clanks_ , the shuttle broke free of the transport, regaining its stability almost instantly. "We're loose! Go!"

The _Pearl_ moved quickly, sliding closer to the transport, dwarfing the smaller craft. The underside of the hull glowed an electric blue, and the transport's spin slowed, slowed... stopped.

Gaige let out a shaky sigh of relief as the _Pearl_ began to slow its descent as well, moving through the atmosphere at a much more controlled pace. "Smart girl, using the magnetic docking field to catch the ship like that." She beamed at the _Pearl_ as they pulled back, hovering about a hundred yards above the ship's dome. Then her smile faded, and she sighed and rubbed her face. "Good thing they showed up, though." She looked at the red button guiltily. "I... I was about to..."

"You didn't," Salvador interrupted. "And no one would've blamed you if you had, not even Axton."

"Nothing you could have done," Maya agreed. "That last part was my fault." She rubbed her shoulder. The pain was completely gone, and the feeling had started to return to her arm. "I tried something I'd never even thought of before, without considering what could happen if I lost it."

"It might not have worked perfectly, but it _did_ help," Gaige assured her. She sounded a little more confident. "It gave us time to _try_ and tether 'em, to say nothing of letting the _Pearl_ catch up."

"Real day for firsts, huh?" Salvador asked with a grin. "I never fought space robots before, you" he patted Gaige's shoulder "never wrangled a spaceship before, and _you_ " his grin widened as he looked at Maya "never Phaselocked a warship before."

A smile crept onto Gaige's lips. "That _was_ a pretty awesome trick."

Maya couldn't help but smile as well. Salvador's good humor was infectious. "It _felt_ pretty awesome." She flexed her left fingers and ran her right hand over her tattoos. "I wonder if I can do it again..."

" _I_ wouldn't mind seeing it again," Gaige agreed. "Now, what was it you did with the transport?"

"What do you mean?"

"That wasn't a standard Phaselock, was it? There's usually all kinds of weird energy floating around in there, but this time..."

"Nothing but the ship itself," Maya confirmed. "I figured that if I can usually create a bubble of energy from another universe, I might be able to create an _empty_ bubble that would hold the ship until we could secure them." She sighed. "Didn't quite work."

"Almost did," Salvador pointed out. "How'd you come up with it?"

Maya opened her mouth, then closed it again, frowning. "That's... actually a really good question. I don't know where the idea came from." She rubbed her temple. "I appreciate your encouragement, though. It helped me hold on a little longer."

"When did I-" He broke off as Gaige's console started beeping. "What's that, _hermana_?"

Gaige turned back to the console. "The results of a sensor scan I started running on the transport. They looked pretty banged up and I wanted to see if we could do anything for them."

"Any good news?"

Gaige went pale. "No, not good! _Extremely_ bad!" She hit the radio. "Axton! The transport's power core is spiking! The ship's gonna blow!"

No answer.

"Axton! Zero! Cassidy!" Gaige pounded the console, but the radio stayed eerily silent. " _Anyone?!_ "

"What's going on?" Maya demanded. "Why don't they answer?"

"I don't know! There's nothing wrong with-" Gaige broke off, mouth dropping open as she stared at the _Pearl_ in disbelief. "What the _hell?!_ "

The transport was no longer obscured by the hull of their vessel, and the dome was gone. Instead, a plate of intensely black metal stared up at them. The _Osprey_ was just visible, attached to one side of the plate like an inverted remora.

Their ship was flying upside down.

* * *

[I got no quips this week, so I'll just offer a heartfelt message of appreciation to everyone that's read and/or kudo'd/reviewed my new little foray: YOUR KIND WORDS ARE APPRECIATED!] 

[(Incidentally, harsh words are also welcomed and appreciated if you note any error.)] 

[Next time, the extraction and retrieval attempt. Thanks for reading!] 


	3. Saving (not actually a) Private Sarah

"We can't let that ship explode!" Axton's fists tightened uselessly around his controls. "Can you do _anything_ to stop it from there?"

[I don't think I can dissuade detonation,] Cassidy warned. [We should settle for saving the survivors!]

"Can we reach the ground Before the detonation?" Zero's hands played over the flight controls as he guided the _Osprey_ next to the transport. "How long do we have?"

[Not long enough to extract the survivors _and_ elude... the explosion...]

Axton's eyebrows went up. He'd known Gaige to use that tone before. "You just got an idea, didn't you?"

[I might have an inkling,] Cassidy reported back. [Are you all up for an air-to-air rescue attempt?]

"A _what?_ "

[I'm going to rotate the ship around our rescuee,] Cassidy said, her voice distracted. [I can maintain its position with our magnetic field. You three could traverse our hull and try to extract the trapped men.]

"Hull walk from our shuttle to the transport, climb inside, get the survivors out and aboard our ship before their engines blow?" Axton unstrapped himself from his seat. "What are we waiting for?"

[Stand by. Starting rotation.]

"Zero, ready the medbay hatch." Axton started for the door. "Tell Cassidy that if I'm not out before she can cut the transport loose and make safe distance, just drop the transport. I'm not risking _our_ ship and you all for my personal life."

"The door is unsealed," Zero said. He stood and stepped away from his console. "But you'd have a better chance With me at your side."

"The lone wolf dies in winter!" Krieg snarled, getting to his feet. "The pack survives!"

Axton gave a tiny, disbelieving laugh. "Man, if this works, I am gonna owe you guys a _lake_ of beer. Come on!"

"Where on the transport Should we look for survivors?" Zero asked as they headed into the medical bay. "Where _could_ they survive?"

"At this point, they're probably scattered throughout the ship." Axton slid the door open and hurried to the hatch. "With the amount of damage they've taken, everyone except _maybe_ Sarah had to have been on damage control."

"And Rapunzel?" Krieg growled. "Where's her tower?"

"Hopefully the cockpit. It's her personal ship, I can't imagine she'd let anyone else fly it into battle." Axton hit the comm box next to the door. "We're ready, Cass! What's your status?"

[We're oriented to allow access, and our altitude will allow you to survive if you're swift,] she answered tightly. [Get going before their engines explode!]

"Right!" Axton punched the door controls.

[Just watch out for the-]

A gale force wind slammed through the door, and a vicious cold snapped at the Hunters. Axton seized the doorframe with both hands and heaved, throwing himself against the wind and out of the shuttle. His feet slammed onto the metal of the hull, and he looked towards the shuttle hatch.

For a second, his mind refused to reconcile what it was seeing. Krieg and Zero were tensed, ready to leap out of the door, but from Axton's perspective, they were on the shuttle's _ceiling._ He shook his head to clear it and looked away. _Variable gravity is a_ bitch _sometimes._ "Come on!" he yelled, not even sure if his voice would carry over the wind. "We've gotta move!" He leaned against the buffeting air, struggling to make headway towards the transport.

A heavy _thump_ echoed up through his boots, and he felt a thick hand on his jacket collar. Before he could process anything else, Krieg had scooped him off the deck and was running full tilt at the transport, his raw muscle overwhelming the wind. Zero kept tightly in his wake, effectively dodging the wind and letting him keep pace with Krieg.

They reached the transport's rear hatch in thirty seconds. Cassidy had maneuvered the _Pearl_ with expert grace, putting the transport just barely a foot above their hull. Krieg set Axton down by the hatch and jabbed his hand at a keypad next to the door. "Open sesame, Ali Baba!" He slapped his buzz axe into his palm. "Or do I get to play can opener?"

"Don't think you'll need to," Axton shouted. _So long as I actually get the date right this time. And she didn't change the door code._ He punched in six numbers, and the access light flashed from red to green. _Sentimental gal._ "Let's go!"

The door slid upward with the reluctant _screech_ of tortured metal and halted about halfway up its tracks, but it was enough for everyone to duck under. Axton coughed as he rolled into ship, the stink of ozone and smoke forcing its way into his nostrils. "We're in, Cass. How long have we got?"

[Not long! Hurry!]

"Right." He clicked off and glanced around the room, trying to get his bearings. "Yeah, this is the cargo hold." His expression sobered as he looked more closely. "Usually, anyway."

The hold was wrecked. Equipment lay strewn about, tossed everywhere by the chaotic ride. Sparks cascaded from shattered computer panels, and a section of bulkhead had collapsed, half-concealing a door.

"That's where we need to go," Axton said grimly, motioning at the door. "Let's get this thing clear."

Krieg cracked his knuckles and flexed his neck. "Here comes the bulldozer!"

"Too time consuming," Zero admonished. "Why move what you can destroy?" His blade flashed into existence.

Three slashes later, there wasn't even a door left.

Zero slipped his sword hilt back onto his belt. "The way is now clear."

Krieg folded his arms and glared at him. "Showboat."

"Save it, you two!" Axton dashed through the hole Zero had cut and into the narrow passageway beyond. "The bridge should be up a deck and- oh, _damn_."

Krieg muscled his way after Axton. "Find the wolf with its throat torn out?"

"Close enough." Axton stood up from a crouch. "There's at least one crewman we don't have to worry about. Let's go find the others."

Zero wormed his way into the passage and followed Krieg. He didn't even glance at the uniformed man pinned to the bulkhead by a metal pipe through his chest. "How many crewmen Are on a transport like this? Can we save them all?"

"Not if this were a standard issue transport, but Sarah retrofit her ship for skeleton crewing." Axton climbed over another piece of debris and ducked under a collapsed light fixture. "Ah, damn it. Here's another one." The man lay dead, his skin blackened and smoking. "Looks like an electrical fire got him. Come on."

Krieg grunted as he squeezed through the narrow space. "Only the princess matters to the plumber."

"Damn right," Axton snapped. "Whoever else is on board, I don't know them. This ship was our- _her_ home whenever she wasn't on mission. I don't even know why she was out here in it."

[Leave that for later!] Cassidy yelled. [The craft is critical! You've only got a matter of minutes!]

"We're almost at the bridge, just hang on!" Axton reached a set of double doors and hit the keypad.

The doors didn't even twitch.

"Don't you do this, you bastard!" Axton hit the keypad again, then kicked at the door. "Come on, we've got to get this open!"

Krieg glanced at Zero. "May I have this dance?"

Zero simply tipped his head.

"Time for the can opener!" Krieg pulled his axe off his back and started for the door. "Step back, Captain Miller!"

Axton looked over his shoulder and pinned himself to wall as Krieg lunged at the door, laughing wildly and hacking at the metal. Sparks flew as his axe chewed through the metal, leaving deep gashes in its wake. Krieg bashed the door a handful of times, then punched at the weakened area, ramming his fist through as if it were wet paper. With a roar more of exhilaration than effort, he forced the doors apart, leaving the way clear.

Krieg stepped aside, panting, and motioned to the door. "Your car, Master Bruce."

"Thanks, Krieg." Axton ran through the door.

Zero ran his gaze over the mangled doors. "Crude, but effective."

"I prefer to beat my opponents the old fashioned-way," Krieg growled. " _Brutally_."

"Sarah!" Axton yelled, searching around the mangled bridge. "Sarah, where are y-" His voice cut off as his searching gaze fell on a body strapped into a seat. Shrapnel was embedded up and down the torso from where a console had exploded outward. The blast had obliterated almost every feature, but it had clearly been female once. _Dear god, don't let me find her like that. Don't let that_ be _her._

"Another of the flock's sheep," Krieg rumbled, looking over Axton's shoulder. "Where's the bellwether?"

"Still looking," Axton said shortly. "Zero, what about you? Any chance that medical scanner of yours can pick anything up?"

Zero shook his head. "Its range is quite short. I have seen _no_ life at all Since we came aboard."

"She's got to be here somewhere!" Axton cupped his hands around his mouth. "Sarah! Sarah, can you hear me?!"

"Uhh..."

All three Hunters whipped around at the faint moan. "Over there!" Axton scrambled for a small hatch in the wall, half buried by debris. "Someone's alive in here!" He started tearing at the fallen metal, hurling aside fragments of the shattered ship.

Krieg seized an I-beam as thick around as his arm and tossed it away like a twig. "What's this hobbit hole?"

"Escape pod," Axton said tightly. "Whoever's in here must have decided to try and bail, but couldn't get clear in time." He glanced at Zero. "Can you get any kind of a read on this one? Enough to tell if it's even her?"

Zero stared at the round hatch for a second before answering. "It _is_ a woman, And seriously injured." He grabbed another piece of metal and heaved it away. "We need to hurry."

"Almost... _there!_ " The door to the pod was clear. Axton pressed his face to the shattered remains of a tiny round window mounted on the door. " _It's her!_ " He pounded furiously on the door. "Sarah! Sarah, wake up!"

"Scan shows she's suffered A serious concussion," Zero said grimly, pulling his sword. "She won't awaken." He turned to Krieg. "I'll cut and you pull?"

Krieg punched his fist into his palm. "Long live the team!"

Axton rolled out of the way as Zero plied his blade against the hatch. "Cass, we're almost done here. Are we getting back in through the _Osprey?_ "

[No, utilize the underside hatch! I've got it unsealed and open! Now _hurry the hell up!_ ]

"Roger!" He crouched next to Krieg, seizing a handhold on the door. "Ready? One, two, THREE!"

The escape pod's door was heavier than expected, but Krieg's muscle and Axton's adrenaline still hurled it halfway across the bridge.

Axton was into the tiny pod in a flash. "Give me a second! She's strapped in!" He pulled his tomahawk and began sawing through the restraint harness' straps.

He tried to ignore the dark wet stain covering half her uniform, the matted red mass of normally yellow hair, the bizarre angle of her left arm, and the bruising that covered half her face. _She'll be fine. She'll be fine. We'll get her to the medbay, and she_ will _be fine._

The last restraint severed, and Sarah rolled into his arms. "Okay, I've got her! Let's get out of here!"

"Stay behind the steamroller!" Krieg charged towards the hall, laughing and swinging his axe madly.

Zero took a second to place a hand on the woman in Axton's arms. " _Severe_ injuries. She needs the medical bay _Immediately_."

"Then let's move it!" Axton sprinted after Krieg as fast as he dared while cradling his critically injured wife. "Getting through the debris could be tricky. I hope we've still got enough..." He trailed off and stared at the hallway. " _Whoa_. He wasn't kidding about the steamroller thing."

The path from the bridge to the cargo bay, while still cluttered by debris, now had a supersized-Krieg pathway cleared through it. Just visible standing on the hull, normal-sized Krieg waved his arm at them. "Light's green!"

Axton sprinted down the hallway, Zero at his heels. He jumped out of the transport and just barely had time to register that the air had somehow gotten even colder before his radio squawked at him. [Get inside the ship _now,_ you lunatic! Move it!]

He spotted Gaige sticking halfway out of a door in the hull, waving her arms at him frantically. Krieg was standing beside her, holding a hatch open and yelling something he couldn't make out. Axton headed for them as fast as he could, barely noticing the wind had died down.

Krieg scooped Sarah's limp body out of his arms as he got closer to the door. "Go through for the handoff!"

"What are you-"

"Just get _in_ here!" Gaige seized the front of his jacket and hauled him bodily through the hatch.

Axton felt a disorienting sensation as his body tried to compensate for an instant reversal of gravity. He blinked and threw out a hand to catch the wall. "Okay, now I get it."

"Well, get _her_ now!" Gaige snapped. Sarah's legs were coming through the small opening as Krieg 'lowered' her from one gravity plane to another.

"Right, on it!" Axton eased Sarah in the rest of the way, holding her limp form in his arms again. "Zero says she needs the medbay. Are-"

"Yeah, yeah, we're good, just go!"

Axton ran for the door and found Maya standing there. She slapped the control pad, opening the way into the hall so he wouldn't have to break stride. "Is there anyone else coming?"

"No one from her ship," Axton said grimly. "Everyone else we found was killed in the battle." He grimaced slightly as he rounded the corner into the hall. "I _hope_ we found everyone, but I wasn't waiting around to check."

"Then I'm coming with you," Maya said, laying her tattooed hand on Sarah's bleeding forehead. "I thought I might have to stay to triage anyone else, but if she was the only survivor..."

"Yeah." Axton grimaced again and slowed his pace slightly as Maya's tattoos began to glow, healing energies flowing down her arm and onto Sarah's body. "Thanks, Maya."

"Anything for the family of a friend." She glanced up. "We still shouldn't take too long to get her to the medical bay. I don't know if that power boost extends to my healing powers, and I _certainly_ don't want to test it on your wife."

"Ex-wife, technically." Axton frowned. "Power boost?"

"Later," Maya said absently. "I'm concentrating." She grinned. "But I can't _wait_ to tell you about it once we're safe."

* * *

[Given the short nature of this chapter, another will be up...now.] 


	4. Think modem meets cat in a tumble dryer

Zero slipped through the hatch and landed next to Gaige. "I'm in, Cassidy!"

[I hear you, hang on!]

Salvador crouched next to Gaige and Zero, staring out the small square at the sky 'below'. "So what now?"

"We got his wife, but we've _also_ still got a time-bomb strapped to our underbelly," Gaige said tightly. "We've got to get rid of it and get _away_ before it blows!"

"So what's the plan to-" He stopped as the sky twisted away, and bluish-white ground replaced it. "So... are we rightside up again?"

Despite the dire situation, Gaige still managed to grin at his discomfort. "Yes, you can relax now. Cassidy just flipped the ship over so we can drop the transport and fly away."

"But I didn't feel anything." He looked around. "And nothing moved."

"Variable gravity," Gaige explained, looking back at the ground. "This ship makes it own g-field, holding everything in place no matter what. It's not easy in a natural environment like a planet, but it's doable with the right tech."

Salvador leaned away from the door and put a hand to his head. "Ugh. Give me nice, simple machines like a gun _any_ day."

"Worry about up and down when we're not on the grill!" Krieg snarled. "What about the sun?!"

"He's right!" Gaige looked up at the ceiling. "How about it, Cass? What's the deal on the transport?"

[I just ditched it,] Cassidy said in a relieved tone. [We're departing with all due haste. We should be clear of any detonation... now.]

"Great. I'm heading up to the bridge." She glanced around the room. "You guys wanna come? Not every day you get to see a starship explode in a planet's atmosphere."

Salvador's eyes brightened. "A space battle _and_ a nuclear blast? Best day ever!"

Fifteen minutes later, Salvador was staring out at the horizon with his arms crossed and a disgruntled expression. "You know, I _was_ promised an explosion."

"And I expected one by now." Gaige looked at Cassidy in confusion. "Any idea why that thing hasn't blown?"

Cassidy was frowning as she looked over various holo-screens. "I'm not certain, but it seems a split-second longshot might have saved the ship."

"Longshot? What longshot?"

Cassidy pointed out the dome to the snowy ground, some hundred feet below them. "We ended up arriving over the arctic, so I tossed the transport into the tundra. I thought maybe the cold could belay the blast."

"Mmmmm..." Gaige made a doubtful face as she looked towards the horizon. "I dunno. That wasn't just a thermal problem. The reactor was going _crazy._ They had energy spikes everywhere. Those would have to be stabilized before you could even _try_ to stop the explosion." She looked over the top of Cassidy's chair to Zero and Krieg. "Do either of you know how to fix a fusion reactor?"

Kreig scratched his head. "I can stab your problems in their brains," he offered.

"Maybe later." She glanced at Zero. "I assume that goes for you, too?"

"We barely had time To rescue Axton's ex-wife," Zero said flatly. "No reactor work."

Gaige crossed her arms and looked back out at the horizon in puzzlement. "So why didn't it blow?" She chewed her lower lip for a minute. "Cassie, how long would it take us to get back to its crash site?"

"No." Cassidy shook her head emphatically. "No, no, no, _no._ I am _not_ nearing a known hazard in our home."

"Oh, come on!" Gaige complained. "That transport should've gone up ten minutes ago! If it hasn't done it by now, it's probably not going to."

"'Probably' would be The most important word there," Zero pointed out. "It doesn't mean ' _won't_.'"

Salvador nodded. "You use guns all the time, _hermana._ You know what a hangfire is."

"Don't let the sun blow up on me," Krieg agreed.

Gaige tossed up her hands. "Fine, fine," she huffed. "I can't believe _none_ of you have any mechanical curiosity, though."

"Not when satisfying said curiosity sacrifices the ship's safety," Cassidy pointed out. "To say nothing of _ours._ "

"Fair enough," Gaige conceded with a sigh. She was silent for a minute, staring out at the horizon. Then, "How about if we go up?"

"What?"

"Well, you don't want to get closer, right?" Gaige pointed to the top of the dome. "Okay. Let's go _up_ instead. Higher altitude means a better line of sight, so it's easier to do a scan. Might get us _something_ useful."

Zero sighed. "Such an obsession With an unfamiliar ship. Why not forget it?"

"Because the laws of physics and mechanical engineering do _not_ just reverse themselves at random," Gaige said flatly. "That ship _should_ have blown up. _Something_ stopped the reactor overload, and we should find out _what_." She shrugged. "Besides, what else have we got to do? Huddle around a recovery table in the medbay? I'm sure Axton would just _love_ us all crowding around him and his ex-wife. And if she's anything like him, I bet she'd be _thrilled_ to find out we've all been hovering over her, just waiting for her wake up."

There was a long pause as everyone glanced around at each other uncertainly, then Cassidy pulled up the flight controls. "Activating ascent systems." Her fingers danced across the controls. "I'll set us for about sixty miles," she offered. "We should be able to scan _both_ ships from that stance."

"A sound decision," Zero agreed. "Turning your back on a foe Gets you blindsided."

"Unless your god-like siren buddy psychically kicked your foe in the nuts," Gaige retorted. "Give me a quick scan on the transport, Cass. We'll take a detailed look at the warship next."

Cassidy waved her hands over her controls. "Image up."

Salvador whistled as holoscreens showing the damaged ship flashed into the air around them. "I've seen bandits that looked better after going three rounds with me while I was drunkzerking." He glanced at Cassidy. "Was that from us dropping it in the snow?"

"A minor amount," Cassidy said grimly. "That ship was shot up six ways to Sunday."

"And a few more for good measure," Gaige agreed. "Can you get any read on the status?"

Cassidy nodded as she read her screen. "Power levels are perceptibly dropping to a less problematic range." She looked up at Gaige from her seat. "It should be safe if you'll stand by for several more hours..."

"So not only is the reactor _not_ going to explode, it's _stabilizing?_ " Gaige demanded.

"Um... yes..."

"Son of a BITCH!" She grabbed the light screen and spun it around, glaring at the details displayed there. "What the _hell_ is going on with you, you bastard ship?!" She began to type furiously on the screen. "Show me your secrets, you little-"

"Forget the minnow!" Krieg snarled. "Let's see the barracuda!"

"You guys have fun with that," Gaige muttered irritably. " _I'm_ going over these damned readings until I _find_ something." She plopped down on her beanbag and kept punching the holographic keys, still scowling at the display.

Cassidy looked at Zero uncertainly. "Should I..."

"Show us the warship," he instructed. "A mystery should not draw Focus from a threat."

"Screw you, Z," Gaige yelled amiably, not looking up from her screen.

Salvador shook his head and chuckled. "Show us the big one, _pilota._ I wanna see it, too."

A large screen flashed into the air, and the enemy appeared. The warship had crashed in a small valley, ringed on all sides by rolling, tree-covered mountains. It had managed to land mostly on its belly, mowing down a wide swath of forest as it ripped a sizable furrow into the ground. Thick trees were strewn everywhere like so many toothpicks. Several fires dotted the area with dense plumes of smoke rising into the air.

"Damn." Salvador folded his arms and stared at the display. "Can't believe Maya did all that with her brain." He glanced sideways at Krieg. "She's one scary lady to love, no?"

Krieg gave a low snarl and dropped into a crouch. "Can't ride the lightning without risking electrocution." He punched his fists together. "And I _like_ the tingle!"

"Might wanna wear-"

The rest of Salvador's sentence was cut off by an eruption of sound, a horrible screeching, rasping wail that echoed around the dome. Salvador and Krieg both clamped their hands over their ears, trying to block out the mind-rattling noise. "The hell is that?!"

He could barely hear his own voice over the sound. Through tearing eyes, he saw Gaige abandon her sensor screen and cover her own ears, shouting something as she clambered over to them.

Even Zero and Cassidy seemed affected. Zero's hand's were still at his sides, but his helmet display read **:s** . Cassidy's mouth was also screwed into a grimace, but her eyes bore an intense look of concentration.

A metal hand suddenly clutched her shoulder. " _Cass!_ " Gaige appeared to be shouting at the top of her lungs, and still Salvador could barely hear her. " _Shut it off!_ "

Cassidy blinked and glanced around at the others. Her eyes widened as she saw their pained expressions, and she quickly pressed a few buttons. The shriek died out, leaving a ringing echo in Salvador's ears.

He cracked his jaw, trying to clear his head. "What _was_ that?"

"A coded signal Sent by the fallen warship," Zero said grimly. "They cry out for aid."

"Aid? What do-" Gaige broke off and stared at Zero. "You _understood_ that noise?"

"Some." Zero tapped the side of his helmet. "My suit is equipped With decryption protocols." He shook his head and folded his arms. "Couldn't get it all."

"You said they were calling for help, _amigo?_ " Salvador asked.

"Yes."

"From who?" Gaige demanded. "There's no one else _on_ this planet."

"Unfortunately, that's untrue."

They glanced down at Cassidy. One hand was pressed to an ear, her eyes were closed, her mouth twisted again, and a screen in front of her was displaying an ugly jagged line.

Gaige bent over to peer at the screen. "Is that the transmission?"

Cassidy nodded. "I'm listening to it on loop, trying to crack the code." She sighed in frustration and shook her head. "It's stunningly sophisticated, and I can only catch a few fragments, but..." Her eyes opened and she looked around at the others. "I can discern enough detail to deduce that this world is _not_ devoid of development."

"Development?" Salvador frowned. "Wanna explain that one?"

She gave half a shake of her head. "If I'm not _completely_ crazy..."

"Why would _you_ be the exception, kiddo?"

"...then the best bet is a permanent, planetside installation." Cassidy glanced around the room. "A base."

"And the heavily armed, half-automated drone warship just called them for help," Gaige said darkly. "This-"

"Is AWESOME!" Salvador laughed and punched his palm. "What do you think? They've got drones, do you think they'll have robots? Maybe even soldiers? Oh, wait!" He grinned. " _Cyborgs!_ "

"I'll take the whole buffet," Krieg snarled, tossing his axe from hand to hand. "I'm _ready_ for a spine-tingler!"

"Start with a space fight." Zero's sniper rifle flashed into his hands. "Next comes a ground engagement." He checked the ammo count and slung the weapon on his back. _"Then_ we find the Vault."

Gaige smirked and clapped Cassidy on the shoulder. "Better keep decoding that message, Cass. We've got plans to make."

* * *

[Well, this seems like as good a place as any. I'm going on a brief hiatus because of travel stuff, but I'll be back. My next chapter will go up November 28, and that will resume my weekly updates.] 

[I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone that have read my stories over the past... wow, it's been five months since I started posting these. You've all been great, and I'll do my best to make sure my impending updates stay entertaining.]  


[Thank you for reading, and I'll be back soon!] 


	5. Dreams vs. Reality

Axton leaned back in a small chair, looking like someone had swung a sandbag into his face. "So...you took out the cruiser with your powers."

Maya managed to hold back most of a very smug smile. "Yup."

"And kept it from destroying your shuttle."

"Did that first, actually."

 _"And_ caught Sarah's ship in mid free-fall."

Maya's mouth twisted slightly. "I dropped it a minute later."

Axton scratched his head and looked at the prone figure on the medical table. "But your healing powers don't seem to have increased."

Maya followed his gaze and sighed in frustration. "It doesn't look like it. I'm sorry." She glared at her tattooed arm. "If they _had,_ I could just..." she snapped her fingers, "...and your wife would be totally healed. As it is..." Maya sighed again, closer to a growl this time. "The medical tech will have her back on her feet after this first session, but she'll need several more to regain her full strength."

"Don't beat yourself up over it," Axton consoled her. "Sarah's safe and healing, and I couldn't have gotten her there if you hadn't slowed her crash. _And_ helped out in the firefight."

"At least it was something I could do." Maya grumbled. Then she looked at his expression and felt some of her own frustration ebb. "I have to say, Ax, you're a little surprising yourself today."

"Oh?"

"You're impressively calm. After the stunts you pulled to save her in the first place, I figured you'd be climbing the walls waiting for her to heal."

His eyes darkened a little. "This isn't the first time one of us has held beside vigil for the other."

"Oh." Silence hung in the air for a minute, then Maya coughed awkwardly. "Sorry."

"Goes with the turf." Axton rubbed his eyes. "Both as a husband and a career soldier. I think I've done this like three times-" He glanced over as a monitor started beeping rapidly. "-and things like _that_ are never good."

Sarah's breathing, which had been soft and easy, suddenly began to come in short, unpleasant gasps. The monitor began to sound a shrill alarm.

"What's happening?" Axton demanded. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know!" Maya ran her eyes over the diagnostic equipment, searching for the answer. "Her bones are knitting, her soft tissues are regenerating, and the brain injuries are-" She stopped and stared at the screen in disbelief. "What the hell?"

"What is it?"

"Her heart rate is spiking, and her brainwaves are all over the place." Maya swiped the screens, paging through the lists. "The computer says it looks like the start of an epileptic seizure."

"Oh, son of-" Axton leapt to his feet and grabbed Sarah's shoulders. "What sedatives are we using?"

"Um..." Maya checked the screens. "Just the default medications for heavy regeneration. Standard neural tranquilizers."

"That's the problem." Axton's voice was grim, his arms tense. "Sarah's allergic to those."

" _Allergic?_ How-"

"Never mind that!" he cut her off. "We need a counteragent, fast. If we don't neutralize that stuff _now_ , her brain is going to misfire until it fries itself!"

"Axton, I'm not a doctor!" Maya protested. "I have no idea how to neutralize a tranquilizer!"

"You're the team medic! You're the one who spent half the flight out here learning about this tech!" Axton's voice was halfway between furious and terrified, his calm shattered. "You've got to know _something!_ "

"I heal _bullet wounds_ with my powers! I wouldn't even know how to start _looking_ for-" Maya broke off, staring at the blue markings on her arm. "But that's not the only thing I can do, is it?"

"What?"

"I'm going to try something." Maya put her left hand on Sarah's forehead and closed her eyes. The tattoos running across her body began to glow faintly.

"But your healing powers-"

"Something _else._ " Her own voice sounded far away. "I'm going to try and stabilize her brain's electrical activity myself. Maybe I can keep her brain from shorting itself out." She exhaled slowly, feeling strangely disconnected from herself. Maya focused on the pulsing energy in her left arm, pushing it gently beneath her skin to the woman twitching on the medical table. She stretched out with her mind, reaching for the pulse of thought and consciousness. It was chaotic and panic-stricken; merely brushing it with her thoughts felt like rubbing sandpaper over her soul. Maya tried to project her calm into the flailing mind-

_A burst of images and emotions flooded through her. A destroyed city. Dahl soldiers falling everywhere. A strange, unfamiliar emotion at the realization she was the only one left. A desperate trek through miles of enemy territory, that same alien feeling held at bay only by years of Dahl discipline and training._

_Seeking shelter in the shadow of a destroyed building as night fell, still deep in enemy turf. Relief and joy at the discovery of three young soldiers. Dismay at the revelation that they were barely out of training on Theseus, with no combat experience at all. A cold recognition that they'd only slow down her desperate march towards friendly forces. A vicious hatred at the protocols saying she should leave children to die._

_A stubborn refusal to do so._

_A whirlwind of battles, blood and fire and death, desperately fought to keep them safe. Exhilaration at finally reaching the command post with all three safely under her wing. Protective rage at being told they were being reassigned, slightly guilty satisfaction at their refusal to be transferred._

_An enormous battle, the largest so far, raged around her. Commandos fell by the hundreds as they pressed towards the enemy lines. A mortar shrieked overhead, impacted behind her, throwing dirt and smoke everywhere. A searing, burning sensation ripped a scream of pain from her, collapsing her to the ground._

_The world began to darken as her side grew damp. There was a shift, and she realized she was being lifted by someone. They were moving away from the battlefield, but it wasn't fast enough, there were more explosions all around, and gunfire growing ever closer. She tried to speak, to tell them to leave her, but her voice wouldn't work. Desperation mounted as she tried to force the order out of her throat, to leave her behind and save themselves-_

"Maya! Stop, it's getting worse!" In the distance, a hand touched a shoulder that used to have been hers-

_Eyes meeting during an intelligence report. A few words exchanged before the operation drop. A shared drink at the 'we survived the mission' party. An intense rush of physical pleasure at the 'private party' in a storage closet. A growing sense of affection and deeper pleasure the next day, followed by a slower and more fulfilling night spent together. Leave time quietly arranged together on out of the way planets, away from the pressures of military life. The constant joy of being together, the occasional bouts of annoyance and disagreements that made the time together that much more precious._

_A thousand, thousand nights together. Myriad rooms, countless beds, but only one purpose. Clothes discarded in the swift, haphazard, slightly frantic manner of people with a burning need. The world outside fading away, reduced to the feel of warm skin and soft sheets-_

Maya pulled away from the intensely personal experiences, embarrassed to intrude. She could still feel the warm glow of the combined memories as they played on, but the actual events were no longer flashing through her mind.

As she withdrew, she realized the mental chaos had receded, that she could reach into the part of Sarah's mind that was still twitching like a wounded animal. Maya stretched out to that part with her thoughts and _willed_ the electrical spasms into stillness. Whenever turmoil threatened to lash out again, Maya reached back to the tangle of pleasurable memories flowing around her and used their strength as fuel in her efforts to pacify the raging beast of autonomic reactions.

Gradually, the flashes of places and emotions faded. Maya slowly became aware of the gentle beeping of the medical equipment, the subtle vibration of the ship's engines, the pressure of Axton's fingers on her shoulder. Gingerly, she eased her eyes open.

Sarah's form lay peacefully on the medical bed. Her breathing was easy, her brain waves stable.

Maya let out a sigh of relief and took her hand off Sarah's forehead. "It's okay, Ax. You pulled her through."

"I... think I knew that," Axton said in a blurry voice. He took his hand off Maya's shoulder and pressed it to his eyes. "What _was_ that? It felt like..."

"It felt like a lot of things." Maya sat down next to Sarah's bed and smiled kindly at him. "Even from my bystander's perspective."

Axton went slightly red. "Uhh... how much did you see?"  
"Nothing that I'll share," Maya assured him gently. "Those experiences belong to you two, not me. I was just the... intermediary."

Axton's shoulders relaxed slightly, and he ran his eyes over his wife. "She's stabilized? Out of danger?"

"Because of you," Maya confirmed. "I couldn't break through her mental turmoil enough to do what I needed. You, though..." she smiled again. "By reliving your good memories, you calmed her enough for me to mitigate the negative effects of the drugs. You saved her life again."

"Always." Axton took Sarah's hand. "Every time I can." He brushed a strand of bloodied hair out of her face. "But I think it'd be better for both of us if I didn't have to do it very often."

Sarah's other hand caught his. "I'll do my best." Her eyes flicked open, the deep green Maya had seen in Axton's memories staring up at his face. "No promises, though."

" _Sarah!_ " Axton dropped her hand and snatched her into a fierce embrace. "Oh, thank god! You scared-"

"Easy, Ax!" Maya yelped, jumping out of her seat and wincing in sympathy. "She's barely healed! You're squeezing too tight!"

"My ribs would agree with that," Sarah gasped through a pained smile. "Loosen up, soldier."

Axton released his grip instantly. "I'm sorry!" He glanced nervously at the medical monitors. "I didn't break anything else, did I?"

"No, but you put a lot of pressure on newly healed bone and muscle," Maya chided. She joined Axton in helping Sarah into a sitting position. "Everything is going to hurt until she finishes her regeneration therapy, so be _careful_."

"I'll shoot up on painkillers," Sarah grunted stoically. She pushed herself the rest of the way upright, sitting with her legs dangling off the bed and wincing as her body complained. "It wouldn't do my team any good to see their leader laid up and whining like an old lady."

Axton and Maya exchanged uneasy glances. Sarah, her eyes closed with the effort of moving, didn't notice. "Um... commander- major-"

"Just Sarah," she said firmly. "You're not one of my soldiers, and you've already seen half our intimate moments." She looked up at Maya eagerly. "Now, where did you put my team? Another part of the sickbay? A different ward?"

Maya caught Axton's stricken expression over Sarah's shoulder. She gritted her teeth. "Sarah... I'm so sorry..."

Sarah's face stayed blank and uncomprehending for a few terrible seconds. Then her eyes widened. " _No._ " She turned to Axton, desperation etched into her face. "No, that can't be!"

"I found them," Axton said gently. "They'd all sustained mortal wounds before I even got aboard."

"Mortal..." Sarah's faint color went even paler. "But I had just ordered them to abandon ship..."

"I... I found them scattered around the ship," Axton said reluctantly. " _You_ were the only one in the escape pod."

" _What?!_ " She glared at him, her blood-stained expression furious. "I'd never set _foot_ in an escape pod while my crew was on board! You _know_ that, Ax!"

"I _do_ know, but that's where I found you," Axton insisted. "Everyone else... it looked like they died from injuries taken in damage control efforts."

"But they-" Sarah stopped. Her left hand reached up to touch the bloody, matted portion of her hair. "I took a head wound..."

"A serious one," Maya confirmed. "It cracked your skull and smashed half your face."

"That must be when I lost consciousness." Sarah grasped the edge of bed, fingers white with tension. "Those idiots. Those noble, stupid, _young_ idiots. _They_ put me in the pod. They were going to launch me, make sure I'd get out, no matter what."

"While they tried to crash land the ship," Axton guessed. "They must have figured we'd chase after an escape pod, rather than a crashing vessel."

"But they never got the chance to do it," Sarah said grimly. "They got themselves killed trying to save the ship." She thumped her fist on the bed. " _Damn_ it. Why couldn't they have just used the pod and _left_ me?"

"Because you rescued them." The words left Maya before she even knew she was going to say them. "Because you'd gotten them this far, and they wanted you to keep going. Because you meant as much to them as they did to you. Because they thought you were worth risking their lives."

Axton and Sarah both stared at her, silenced by the certainty in her voice.

Maya tapped the side of her own head with a sad smile. "I saw it, remember? I know what you all went through, I know how much you cared about them. And from what I saw, it was mutual."

Sarah thumped her fist on the medical table again. "Doesn't mean they weren't damned fools." She glared at Axton, fire blazing through grief. "Tell me you made that warship pay. Tell me they're ash on the ground, a burning crater. Tell me something that makes it _worth it!_ "

A lesser man would have drawn back. Axton sat next to Sarah and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "That warship went down, Sarah. I saw it falling myself." He nodded at Maya. "And you've got her to thank for it."

"Her?" Sarah ran her eyes up and down Maya once, really _looking_ at her for the first time. "Wait, I remember your intel file. Maya the Siren, right?"

Maya nodded, impressed and slightly disturbed. "I have an intelligence file?"

"Nothing official," Sarah assured her. "So I owe you, specifically, for destroying that ship?"

"Crashing it, definitely," Maya corrected. "But I'm not certain the ship was actually _destroyed_."

Sarah's expression shifted to a strange mix of disappointed and hopeful. "Oh, really."

"From the brief look we got at its trajectory, it could have survived crashdown," Maya explained. "Unfortunately, we haven't had time to get an update since getting you aboard."

[I can help with that!] A blue light shimmered down from the ceiling, gradually resolving into a full sized human form-

" _Gaige?!_ " Axton demanded, staring at the hologram. "What the hell is that?!"

[Intraship holographic communication system!] She grinned around the room. [Can you _believe_ we never played with this before?]

"How long have-"

Gaige crossed her arms and beamed at him. [Oh, come on, like you're _not_ used to random people jumping into your conversations.] Her voice was almost unbearably smug. [Besides, I think you'll be glad I interrupted. I can give Ms. Just-Call-Me-Sarah a rough idea of the enemy's status.]

"That doesn't mean you should've been eavesdropping on us, kid!" Axton snapped.

"If she's got an intel report for me, I don't care if she recorded us on Hedonista IV and broadcast it to the six galaxies," Sarah growled, punching Axton's shoulder. "You're the mad scientist high-schooler, right? Gaige, I believe?"

[You've heard of me?] Gaige's expression was a mixture of surprised and flattered. [Really?]

"I do my best to keep tabs on my hus- my _ex-_ husband's friends. Now, the cruiser?"

[Down hard and trying to get their engines running,] Gaige reported. [They won't be going anywhere for hours, definitely. Probably days if they can't get their repair drones working.]

"You mean they're vulnerable and going to _stay_ that way for a while?" A savage smile worked its way onto Sarah's lips. "Good. Then maybe there's still a chance to turn this mission around."

"Sweetie?"

"I need access to your communications system," she said quickly. "If we can call in reinforcements, we might be able to secure the warship and salvage this whole operation." She looked at Axton. "What's our stellar position? How far to the nearest Dahl outpost?"

"Uh... I'm not really sure," Axton admitted. He glanced at Maya. "You're the one that wanted to come here. Do _you_ have any idea?"

Maya shook her head. "Nowhere close by, I know that much. The nearest inhabited system is two weeks away at top speed. The nearest military outpost..."

[ _Four_ weeks away,] Gaige supplied helpfully. [Somewhere the database calls Hestia Station.]

" _Hestia Station?_ " Sarah's eyes widened in shock. "That's our forward-most position in this galaxy! It's barely more than a listening post! We can't even _get_ reinforcements from there!" She grabbed Axton's arms. "Where _are_ we?"

Axton took a deep breath before answering. "The galactic edge," he said gently, laying his hands over hers. "Right on the terminus of this galaxy and the next."

"No, no no no _no._ "Sarah pressed her hands to her forehead, shock turning rapidly into horror. "No, we _can't_ be this far out. We _can't_ be!"

The Hunters traded confused looks. "I don't understand," Maya said. "You were already fighting when we found you. How could you not know-"

"Because _this_ wasn't where I engaged the target!" Sarah snapped. She glared furiously at Maya. "I was part of an attack fleet that's probably still halfway across the galaxy!"

"Halfway..." Confusion rippled over Axton's face. "Then how did you get out _here_?"

Sarah's hands tightened on the bed. "That damn warship, that's how. I detected their engines powering up and tried to get in close before they could run. We got dragged into their slipstream when they jumped."

"Slipstream? Jumped?" His expression grew even more baffled. "What are you _talking_ about?"

"That ship uses some kind of point-to-point FTL drive," Sarah said grimly. "Intelligence has no idea how it works _or_ how to counter it." Her eyes grew harder. "It's given them the advantage in every major engagement so far."

" _Them_?" Axton glanced sharply at Maya. "That warship is part of a fleet?"

"A powerful one." A muscle in her jaw twitched. "And if this one _chose_ to come here..."

"There could be more on the way," Maya realized. "Gaige, have Cassidy start scanning _everywhere_. If another one shows up and catches us off guard-"

[No need to worry about that.]

Maya broke off. Gaige's tone was far too confident, given the situation. "What makes you say that?"

[Weeeell,] Gaige drawled, [I _was_ gonna tell you all later, but...]

"Spit it _out,_ kid," Axton growled.

She shrugged. [We intercepted a transmission from that ship a little while ago. We haven't decoded all of it yet, but what we got was pretty cool.]

Sarah's face went red, and she pushed herself halfway off the bed. " _Cool?!_ You-"

Axton quickly laid a hand on her shoulder, silencing her. Her teeth grinding and with obvious reluctance, Sarah eased back into a sitting position. "What _did_ we get?" he asked evenly.

[Turns out that was long range vessel,] Gaige said. Her own expression hadn't twitched at Sarah's reaction. [It was built specifically to be able to make extreme range jumps, like the one that brought you both here.] She grinned. [And there's only _one_ of them. We might be two weeks from your closest base, but _their_ support isn't getting here anytime soon, either.]

Maya frowned ever so slightly at Gaige's reply, but said nothing.

Sarah took a deep breath, apparently trying to bring herself back under control. "Let me see if I've got this right. The warship is down, isn't going anywhere, won't be receiving help any time soon?"

[In a nutshell, yeah.]

Sarah's eyes gleamed. " _Your_ ship, in the meantime, is fully functional, mobile, and has a contingent of extremely skilled warriors aboard?"

[I don't know if seven people counts as a contingent, but again, yeah.]

A low, shaky laugh escaped her lips. "Then maybe there _is_ still a chance." She looked around the room. "Maya, Gaige, I'd like to formally hire you in your capacity as mercenaries," Sarah said firmly. "You, as well as everyone else aboard this ship."

Maya exchanged looks with Axton and Gaige's hologram. "Really? What for?"

"My mission was to conduct a data mining run on that warship," Sarah said. "With your help, I may still be able to complete that objective." A shadow crossed her face. "Additionally, I'll need to request transport to the nearest Dahl facility, given that my own ship is most likely destroyed."

[Well, actually-]

"What are you talking about, Sarah?" Axton demanded. "You want us to back you up while you charge into an enemy stronghold?"

"Essentially, yes." She quirked an eyebrow. "Isn't that what you do these days? Make reckless attacks against superior numbers of enemies, with nothing but your guns and your guts?"

"Pretty much," he admitted. He hopped off the bed and cracked his knuckles. "So, what's the plan, honey? Fly overhead and do a low orbital drop? We can be on 'em in fifteen minutes that way-"

"No." Sarah shook her head. Her voice was laced with regret, but absolutely certain. "We're going to need a few hours, at least."

Axton's face dropped ever so slightly. "Hours? What for? We're ready to go _now."_

"The mission is too critical to risk," Sarah said firmly. "We need to make a proper plan before going in." She raised her hand and extended her fingers. The tips trembled slightly. "Not to mention I'm nowhere near full strength yet." She lowered her hand and looked at Maya. "You said I'd need another regeneration session?"

Maya nodded. "A short one will clear out the muscle pain. Some food and actual sleep would also speed your recovery."

"Then that's what I'll take," Sarah said. "I won't be a liability, and I won't be left behind. Not for _this._ "

Maya raised an eyebrow. "So despite your obvious drive to complete this job, you're making a pragmatic decision that delays an impetuous, off-the-cuff attack in favor of a planned, strategic approach." She folded her arms and smiled slightly. "I could get used to working for a professional."

"In the interest of full disclosure, I should caution that I can't guarantee your pay up front," Sarah warned, glancing at the three Vault Hunters. "We'll have to wait until I get back in touch with Dahl Central Command before payment can be finalized."

[We've worked for less reliable with lower pay on the table,] Gaige said dryly. [Not to mention there's some dedicated self interest here.]

" _Which_ we can discuss later," Axton interrupted, "after the 'food and rest' portion of the day is over." He offered Sarah his arm. "Which would you prefer first, madam?"

"Actually..." Sarah ran a hand through her matted hair, then over her face and clothing. Disgust warped her stern features as she felt the tacky substance coating her skin and clothing. "Shower."

"Fair request," Maya agreed. "Axton, I think there's an empty set of quarters at the end of the hall to the left. You help Sarah get cleaned up, Gaige and I can start getting intel on the cruiser, and we'll all meet up on the mess decks to plan..." she glanced subtly at the medical status screens, "...in about two hours?"

 _"One_ hour," Sarah insisted. "I just need to get the blood off, not a day at the spa." She pushed herself off the table-

Her knees buckled slightly at the impact of her full weight. Axton was at her side instantly, his expression knowing, his eyes pained. He slipped his arm under Sarah's, taking most of her weight on himself. He glanced back at Maya. "You heard the lady. One hour." Moving carefully, they made their way out of the medical bay.

The hologram of Gaige waited until the door had slid shut behind them, then looked at Maya with a doubtful expression. [Do _you_ think she'll only need an hour?]

"Actually, I think she could wash up in fifteen minutes," Maya said calmly. "But she's better off taking the time."

Gaige's mouth dropped slightly, then she grinned and shook her head. [I always forget you've got a killer poker face.]

"Speak for yourself." Maya crossed her arms and stared evenly at Gaige. "You didn't tell her everything just now, did you?"

[How-] Gaige broke off and shrugged. [Can't get anything past you today. Anyway, you're right. We got more from the message than I let on.]

"In what way?"

[To start with, if Ms. Axton wants to go on a murderous rampage, she'll have plenty of targets.]

* * *

[And we're back!] 

[The upcoming couple chapters won't exactly be action packed, but I promise it'll all pay off. Next time, two Hunters regain their balance in very different ways.] 

[Thanks for reading!] 


	6. Range Rage

Axton had helped Sarah along for about a hundred feet before he accepted this wasn't going to work. Sarah was breathing heavily as her barely healed body struggled to keep her upright, despite his assistance. Even without looking directly at her, he noticed a sheen of perspiration developing quickly on her face. It was probably going to take them fifteen minutes just to get to the empty cabin at this rate.

It pained him to acknowledge the woman who currently held the Theseus Academy record for the planetary triathlon barely had the strength to walk a few hundred yards. He knew what it must be doing to her pride. So, he did the only thing he could think of.

"Do you realize," he said as lightly as he could, "that I never got to take part in one of matrimony's oldest traditions?"

"Not now, Axton," Sarah grunted. "Besides, you had your bachelor party. They _still_ talk about it in the bar district. And the red light district. And the _infra-_ red light district, for that matter."

"That _was_ a fun night," he agreed. "But I was actually talking about _this._ "

"Wha- hey!"

Sarah was actually half an inch taller than Axton, with the build and weight of a career soldier. Fortunately, the new muscle tone Axton had developed weight lifting over six weeks of interstellar travel was more than capable of enabling him to scoop her into his arms and walk along easily.

_At least there's no risk the ship will blow up this time._

"I mean, the captain married us on the bridge," Axton said conversationally. "You wouldn't let me carry you down to your ship, and you refused to let me carry you over the door to your own cabin. _Wildly_ unfair of you to cheat me out of my husbandly duties that way."

"My ship was in the hangar fourteen decks away. I was _not_ about to be hauled down all those ladderwells in your arms. As for my cabin, I couldn't let the junior officers see me like this!"

Axton risked a glance down at Sarah's face. She unmistakably glowering up at him, but her eyes held far less anger and embarrassment than he'd expected.

_Good to see she won't, either._

"But it's an age-old tradition meant to ward off bad luck!"

"It's an outdated ploy to hide a woman's libido," Sarah countered, tossing an arm over his neck. "And I don't believe in luck."

"Maybe _you_ don't, but we did at least three 'bad luck no-nos' that day." It wasn't easy to sound happy with a clenched throat, but he didn't dare stop talking. "I saw you before the ceremony, I didn't carry you over the threshold, and, worst of all, I agreed to sleep far away from the engine room."

"Oh, good lord." Sarah buried her face in her free hand. "Tell me you're not still carrying around _that_ personal superstition."

"I don't see how you can call it superstition," Axton teased. "We hadn't even gotten out of our dress uniforms before the pirates attacked."

"And we beat them back easily," Sarah retorted. " _They_ were the ones with the bad luck, not us."

"Hard to argue with that. Here we go, your home aboard our little yacht." Axton willed his smile to stay in place as he looked at Sarah's blood-streaked face. "Would you do the honors, honey? My arms are a little full."

"By your choosing, you big lummox." Sarah hit the door release with her free hand. "Wow. Do you usually keep the spare rooms fully furnished and cleaned? Especially when they're this big?"

"We have maintenance drones that do all the housekeeping. If this ship had been ours back in the day, you'd never have had to nag, I mean ask, me to clean up." He stepped into the room and spun around. "Ta-da! You're officially over the threshold."

"And I appreciate the lift." Sarah wriggled in his grip, swinging her legs onto the floor. "Now do us both a favor and drop the phony good humor, okay?"

Axton flushed slightly in a mixture of chagrin and tiny amount of extremely unwanted, unwelcome anger. "Oh, come on, honey," he said in an even more jocular voice, "you can't limit me like that. _All_ my humor is phony."

Sarah paused in unzipping her jacket to give him a half amused, half exasperated look. "You already rescued me from a drone cruiser and my own crashing ship today, Ax. You don't need to rescue my pride, too."

He sighed and motioned to Sarah's arm. "Then let me get you out of that uniform."

Her eyebrow went up, a slightly sardonic smile on her face.

"The ship's laundry can get the blood out," he added loudly. "Not to mention it'll speed things up. You wince every time you bend a joint."

"That one's certainly true," Sarah admitted as Axton took the arm of her jacket. She groaned as she pulled her arm free. "I feel like an accordion that just did a twelve hour polka marathon."

"Better than feeling like a bass drum in the gorilla marching band," Axton quipped. "Other arm."

"Here." Sarah pulled free of her coat and started unbuttoning her inner shirt. "I'll need some spare clothes in the meantime."

"No problem," Axton assured her. He fought to keep his expression neutral as he folded the stained and sodden jacket over his own arm. Sarah's half fastened, equally stained shirt was even more trying on his facial control. "The ship came with a fair selection of civilian clothing."

"And yet you're still wearing the colors. Catch."

Axton snatched the formerly white shirt out of the air. He took advantage of the fact his hands were full to turn towards the room's laundry chute, hiding his face from Sarah- it was getting harder to keep his true feelings in check the more Sarah revealed of her bloodied, aching body. "Figured Vault Hunting in the company logo might earn me some leeway," he lied. "An ex-Dahl commando that takes down the leader of a major corporate rival might not be an _ex_ -commando forever, you know?"

"For other soldiers, maybe. For you?" Axton turned back just in time for Sarah's trousers to smack him in the face. "High Command is _still_ dealing with the repercussions of the little stunt that got you kicked out in the first place, and that was _months_ ago. Unless you personally save the lives of everyone at Central HQ, you're out for good, bucko."

Axton pulled the pants away from his eyes. "Never hurts to..." He stopped as an iron fist seized his gut. "What the _hell?_ "

Sarah paused in pulling off her discolored socks ( _My god, how much blood did she_ lose _?_ ) and glanced down at her left side. "Oh, that." She traced her fingers over the mass of rough, wrinkled scar tissue that covered her lower back before running down her waist, to the middle of her left leg. "Just a souvenir."

"Souven-" Axton stared at her in disbelief. "How did that _happen?_ "

"Splash damage from a mortar impact on my last mission," Sarah sighed. "Happened shortly after I picked up those three rookies you found on my ship."

" _Mortar impact?_ " Axton frowned, his mind whirling. "You were due to rotate back to Themis with the battalion, not somewhere you'd get hit by a mortar!"

"Orders changed," Sarah said with a shrug. "They dispatched me to a suppression op on Acheron right after you left."

"Acheron." Axton's voice sounded dull to his own ears. "They... sent _you_... to _Acheron_."

"The situation needed an experienced field commander." Sarah reached for her bra clasp, wincing once more as she bent her arms backward. "I was off mission and available, so-"

Axton laid his hands over hers, stopping the motion. " _Why_ did they send you to Acheron, Sarah?"

Sarah glanced at him over her shoulder with a smile he knew all too well. It was her version of the smile he'd been struggling to maintain, and just lost control of. "Axton, how about we discuss this when I'm _not_ effectively naked except for my own blood, okay?"

He nodded mechanically, barely hearing her voice. A violent tumult of anger, of grief, and a thousand other emotions drowned out nearly everything in his head. He could picture Sarah getting the orders, the look in her eyes at the unofficial death sentence. He couldn't imagine the resolve to actually _follow_ those orders, and to have had to face it because of _him-_

A small, stabbing pain in his palm broke through the confusion. Axton glanced down and realized Sarah was digging her nails into his skin. "Ouch- sort of. Why are you doing that?"

"To encourage you," Sarah said testily. "Either finish helping me undress or let me finish myself. I'm getting cold, and we're running out the clock."

Axton blinked and came fully back to himself. "Right. Sorry." He undid the clasp with practiced ease, then stepped away. "Shower's right behind that door. We've got hot water for three hundred, so no worries there." It took herculean effort, but he managed to ratchet a grin back onto his face. "Just don't slip in the tub, or you'll wind up needing more regen therapy."

"I'll be sure to watch my step," she promised dryly. Still holding the last of her clothing in place, Sarah walked into the bathroom and slid the door closed.

Axton waited until the sound of water blasting full force leaked through the door. He counted another thirty seconds for good measure, then ducked out of the room and down the passageway at a brisk trot.

Sarah wouldn't take longer than she had to with her shower, and he wanted to be back before she finished. Right now, though, he had the overwhelming, uncontrollable urge to _shoot something._

Axton half expected a rattle of gunfire to greet him as the range door swung open, but all was silent. _Too busy to be Rembrandt today, Zero?_

He stepped into the nearest lane and tapped out a sequence on the booth's keypad. "Computer?"

**{Online.}**

"Set me up a target." A long, multi-barreled assault rifle flared into his hands. "Solid mass, not holographic. And not paper, either. Something that _shatters._ "

**{Request confirmed. Additional criteria?}**

"No. Yes." He sighted the space the target would appear. "Use every target in the database with the word 'Dahl' attached to its file descriptor."

**{Confirmed.}**

A cluster of light blazed at the end of the target range. Through his rifle scope, Axton watched a camouflage-painted slice of wood solidify, the word DAHL stenciled across it in olive green.

_Good start._ He squeezed the trigger.

The rifle kicked in his hands as the barrels spun up to full speed. Axton didn't bother trying to aim; his current weapon was meant for high-speed, mass target annihilation, not pinpoint accuracy.

_It's what they deserve._

The rifle thumped against his palms one last time, then ceased. The barrels spun on for a few more seconds before Axton realized he had emptied the sizable magazine. A few shreds of the target dangled limply from its mounting hook.

"Computer!" Axton slapped the keypad, materializing a shotgun. "New target!"

**{Confirmed.}**

Axton sighted the poster advertising Dahl's mercenary values. The hard light construct fragmented like glass this time, exploding into nothing as his shotgun chewed through it.

"Again!"

A volley from his SMG burned away an image of Dahl's high-tech weaponry.

"Again!"

A electric assault rifle blast incinerated Dahl's promise of money and honor.

"Again! _Faster,_ dammit!"

A slag pistol destroyed the name again. A corrosive shotgun melted another empty slogan, while its hurled reload erased a vanity-infused picture of a rifle. Axton brought an SMG up as the next target flashed into the lane-

And stopped. He stared at the target, confusion muting his rage. "Computer, what's that doing there?"

**{Target matches specified parameters.}**

"But what's it _doing_ here?" he demanded. "Doesn't Zero keep all his bullet art?"

**{Confirmed. Artwork was scanned and stored in database for redundancy purposes. Filename: Axton, the Dahl Commando.}**

Axton stared at the hardlight version of Zero's artwork. It was a remarkably accurate piece. The assassin had nailed Axton's features. The hair, the cheekbones, the eyes and mouth...

The arrogant, staring eyes. The cocky grin. The man so certain he get away with anything, that nothing could ever stop him. Something would have to kill this man in order to stop him.

_But what about those you left behind? The ones who couldn't, or_ wouldn't _run?_ His own imagined voice drilled into his mind. _Her wounds, her scars, they're_ your _fault. They sent her to Acheron because they_ knew _she let you get away, but they couldn't prove it._ The grin seemed to grow cruelly mocking. _Didn't think about what your actions would cost_ her _, did you?_

"Computer." Axton's voice was dead as he keyed for a different weapon. "Put this target on repeat."

**{Confirmed.}**

Axton's first rocket obliterated the grinning face. The second was right behind the first, destroying the target before it had fully reformed. The third he actually fired too fast, missing the target entirely, but the fourth shattered the cocky expression instantly.

After that, Axton lost count of his fire. He just kept pulling the trigger, destroying his own image over and over. He didn't stop firing until the target stopped materializing.

He blinked sweat out of his eyes. He swiped at his forehead with the back of his hand and realized he was panting. "Computer?"

{ **Online.}**

"Where's the next target?" He glared at the empty hook. "I'm not done here."

**{For safety reasons, shooting sessions are limited to thirty minute intervals. Do you wish to override?}**

"Yes, of course I-" He stopped. " _Thirty_ _minutes?!_ "

**{Confirmed.}**

“Son of a _bitch!_ ” He dropped his gun and sprinted for the door. _Half a god damned hour_ , Axton fumed. _Brilliant move, genius. She's gonna be_ pissed _, losing all that time._

He had to admit, though, the shooting range had eased some of his fury at Dahl. A little of his anger at the pompous, condescending, smug assholes that had sent his wife to that meat grinder of a planet _was_ muted.

His anger at himself was going to take a while longer. He hoped alcohol would speed up the process.

That was for later, though. Right now, the door to Sarah's cabin was coming up. Trying to ignore the twist in his stomach, Axton hit the OPEN button.

A gust of warm, humid air puffed against his face. Axton blinked and tried to squint through the haze obscuring the room. As the door slid shut behind him, he realized he could still hear the shower running.  _Well, at least she didn't notice how long I was gone._ "Sarah?" he called. "You okay in there?"

There was a pause just long enough for him to reflect on his 'don't slip' comment, then Sarah's voice drifted out to him. "Yeah, I'm good, Ax. Just trying to loosen my muscles."

A small sigh of relief slipped past his lips. "Do you plan on staying in much longer? We can always push back the meeting-"

"No!" The water cut off instantly. A second later, Sarah emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel almost large enough to conceal the massive scar on her left side. She was rubbing her hair dry with a smaller towel. "No, I'm not waiting around any longer than I have to."

"You never could," Axton agreed. He peered closely at her. "You're sure you didn't get overheated in there? Your face is _really_ red."

Sarah stopped drying her hair and scrubbed quickly at her eyes. "I let the waterworks go on longer then I'd planned. Just... couldn't stop for a while. I've got it under control, though." She sniffed once, dropped her hand, and looked at Axton. "You said you had some clothes for me?"

"Yeah." Axton pointed to a dresser built into the wall. "Underwear and stuff in there. You get that, I'll get the rest." He turned towards the room's recessed closet, frowning a little. Something about her face and voice just now... "In the interest of not putting pressure on your sore muscles, I recommend a loose fitting jumpsuit. Sound okay?"

"Whatever."

"We've got one style of coverall in five different colors. What are you in the mood for? Bright yellow? Dark blue?" He pushed a few hangers aside. "Oh, here's a nice lime green." He pulled it out and offered it to her with an extremely fake smile. "The latest in 'straight from the recovery ward' chic, don't you think?"

"Blue." She stared at the clothing with red-rimmed eyes. "I _hate_ hospitals."

"I know." He handed her the blue jumpsuit and turned to hang the other back up. "I don't remember the last time you set foot in one voluntarily."

"Three years ago," Sarah said instantly. Her voice was hard and bitter. "March eighteenth, oh-nine-thirty hours. You were with me."

_Three years...?_ Axton's eyes widened as the memory surged forward. He _did_ remember that visit. It had been the culmination of months of effort, countless tests, and numberless fears. Everything had been reduced by a bland-faced doctor into one inescapable, unchangeable truth.

It was also the only time he'd ever seen his wife cry.

_Damn right. Whoever else is on board, I don't know them._ The echo of his own words rang in his ears.

But _Sarah_ had known them. And as Axton looked at her bloodshot eyes, he realized their deaths had ripped tears from her the way only one other event ever had.

"Oh, Sarah..." he offered his hands uselessly, then let them drop to his sides. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"Wouldn't have changed anything if you had," Sarah retorted with her back to him. She stepped into the jumpsuit and zipped it up. "You said yourself they were already dead by the time you boarded. You would never have been in time to save them."

Axton stretched out towards her shoulder. "Sarah-"

She flinched away from his touch, arms crossed as she stared away from him. "We're not supposed to care this much," she finally said softly. "They say things like 'band of brothers' or 'the corps is family,' but we're not supposed to feel it like it's _true._ " Her left hand swiped at her eyes again. "But those _children_..."

Axton swiftly looped his arms around Sarah's waist. With his boots on, he had just enough height to rest his chin on her shoulder. He felt her stiffen, start to pull away, then stop. He held on gently, and gradually, her muscles loosened, and she leaned into his embrace.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "I'm sorry you lost them, and that I didn't get there in time to save them. You've got no idea how much I regret that I can't give them back to you."

"Then give me the next best thing." Sarah turned in his arms and he found himself locked in her eyes. Their green fire could burn men alive. "Help me complete my mission. Help me give their deaths _meaning._ "

"I will." Axton flung himself onto the pyre of her gaze and pulled her close. "These guys have no _idea_ what's about to come for them."

* * *

[That's one...]


	7. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

_A base._ The words buzzed around Maya's brain incessantly, while a slow pulse beat at her temple. _Why would anyone have a base out_ here? _No one was supposed to be_ able _to know about the Vault, so why would they even come out this far?_

Maya stalked through the ship's corridors, intending to go to the mess decks, but barely noticing her surroundings. The idea of someone else getting to the Vault World before her was... _infuriating_ , for some reason.

 _It must have something to do with the way the planet looked,_ Maya reflected. _It was so_ beautiful _on the initial approach. Now, it's... spoiled, somehow._ Her mind drifted back to the dome, only a few hours ago. The way the sunlight had reflected off the oceans and mountain ranges. How the snow glistened up at them, catching her eye even in the midst of Axton's desperate charge across the _Fiery Pearl's_ hull. The amazing spectacle of a whole world drenched in varying shades of blue, something she'd never imagined possible.

The idea of a permanent artificial structure down below, especially one built by an enemy force, made Maya's stomach turn and hands curl in anger. She gritted her teeth as the image of heavy construction equipment tearing into the virgin soil below gnawed at her mind, shredding the pristine environment for a group of filthy zealots, bent on seizing the Vault for themselves-

A dull throb and slight wetness in her left hand drew her eyes downward. Maya stared at her clenched fists, then slowly raised them to chest height and uncurled her stiff fingers.

Her left palm was slick with a thin mixture of blood and sweat. The tips of her nails were red. From the ache in her right hand, the only thing that had saved _that_ side was her glove.

Maya wiped her hand on her pant leg and started for the elevator again, feeling strangely disconcerted. She hadn't realized she was that angry. _Not just angry. Furious. Enraged._ Livid. _When was the last time I-_

She didn't even have to finish the thought to know the answer. Maya had always possessed a temper, but most of her rage was icy, a cold determination to end whoever had wronged her. The only time she ever _burned_ with anger was when she had dealt with the condescending attitudes belonging to the leader of the Order of the Impending Storm.

_And the last time I dug this hard into my own palms was the day I left Athenas._

The day she'd murdered Brother Sophis.

The elevator was in sight, but Maya began to slow her pace, dragging out the short distance. For some reason, the idea of being around anyone else, even her friends, was oddly constricting. In fact, the idea of staying on the _ship_ was making her skin crawl. Maya thought again of the stunning world below and felt her anger flare once more. If it hadn't been for the warship, they would be down on the surface right now, forging their way towards the Vault under the sun and in the air of the new world-

Something flashed in the corner of her eye, bringing Maya to a full halt. She looked to her left and saw the massive window of the emergency gunsighting room, the curve of the blue world just peeking up from the window's bottom, the black of space just brushing the top.

Maya blinked in confusion. _Wait... why am I here?_ The medical bay was clear on the other side of the deck. She would have had to go right past at least two other elevators to even _get_ this far. _Did I just storm the whole way around the ship and not_ realize _it?_

The ship's angle changed slightly, bringing more of the world into view. Maya's breath escaped in a tiny gasp as she looked down on the globe.

It was even more beautiful than she remembered. The planet's surface ranged from deep blue, almost black, to a glimmering white with just a tinge of color. Several mountains glimmered in the sunlight, their peaks rising into points far above the world below.

Without even thinking about it, Maya walked into the gunsight room and over to the massive window. She sank into her cross legged meditation pose, slowing her breath and willing her pulse to a calmer rhythm. She stared outward at the planet for a few more seconds, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

The stars appeared in her mind's eye, a scattering of jewels across the dark canvas of space. Maya concentrated on blanking them out, removing their light from the infinite. With each point of light removed, she let a tense muscle loosen, an ember of anger go out, a care fade away. Finally, her body relaxed and her mind was free, with only one point of light remaining.

A blue one.

She focused on the last point, preparing to erase it and let herself go... then stopped. Instead of erasing the last star, she reached out to it, let it grow larger in her mind. The point became a twinkle, a spark, an orb of light, growing ever larger.

It wasn't a star, but she knew that. It was her meditation, of _course_ she did. But she allowed herself to feign surprise at the blue planet rushing towards her. It grew until it filled her mind, and she hung in the emptiness with it. No ship, no stars, just her and the world.

The glow of the atmosphere began to fade, and the bulk of the continents. The seas vanished, followed by the glowing center of the world. Only the brilliant blue of the crystal mountains remained, glimmering up at her.

As she stared at them, Maya saw a pattern within the rock. She pushed aside the duller quartz, the commonplace stones. The pure core of the range formed a massive circle across the planet, surrounding another shape, both combining into a pattern that would take a lifetime to walk across, were she limited to her physical body.

_The world had receded. The Vault symbol remained._

_Maya watched the symbol, the ancient marker of power and knowledge and danger. She watched as it glimmered, blue light sparkling within it. For what felt like a million years, the light raced throughout its shape, channeled by the crystal mountains._

_Then, a flare._

_It was small. A brief pinprick of yellow light at the top of the symbol, where the apex nearly touched the circle. It only lasted a moment, but somehow, the flash disturbed her. It didn't belong there. Only the light within the symbol belonged._

_Another flare, larger. It, too, faded quickly, but was replaced by another, then another. With a speed that made her heart ache, the flawless blue light of the symbol was occluded by the intrusive yellow flares from something else._

_Maya had the strange feeling the lights were trying to pierce the symbol, breach the crystal skin. It was like the light outside wanted to replace the light within._

No!

_She focused her mind, trying to douse the invaders, but she couldn't put them out. The Vault symbol weathered the assault alone, stoically defying the incessant jabs._

_Another flare, brighter than all the others, a twisted, sickening green color. For the first time, the symbol seemed affected, unable to withstand the green light as easily as it had the smaller yellow flashes._

_The green light pulsed again, and Maya was filled with an irrational loathing for it. She wanted it to go away, to leave her and the symbol alone again, but she couldn't stop the vile color from reappearing, pounding on the symbol over and over._

_Cracks were beginning to form in the Vault symbol. The yellow flashes had reappeared, clustered around the weakened area, pummeling it constantly. All the while, the green flashes kept blazing into the symbol, hitting a spot until a new fracture appeared, then attacking another section while more yellow flares replaced the green. The yellow light seemed to be seeping through the crystal skin of the symbol-_

_The blue light surged, radiating outward with the force of a sun. Maya felt her heart lift, eyes tearing with joy as the blue washed away everything else in a blaze of light. The invaders were banished. The symbol was safe again._

_But it was also damaged, and the green and yellow lights would return. A single counterattack was not enough to save the symbol. It would need more, it would need_ help, _so it called as it lashed out, singing for any that could hear-_

[Maya? You there, _chica?]_

Maya blinked her eyes open, shaking her head and inhaling deeply. "Wooo... Sal? Is that you?"

[Who else on this boat speaks spanish?] He sounded halfway between amused and concerned. [Hey, where are you? Ax's lady wants to start the meeting.]

"She's already showered and changed? Damn, I thought I'd tricked her into taking longer." Maya rubbed her eyes. "All right, I'll join you shortly. Thanks."

[ _De nada._ ] The ECHO clicked off.

Maya stretched her arms over her head and arched her back, feeling her spine crackle satisfyingly. Her meditation session had certainly helped settle her mind, despite the odd, dreamlike quality and combative feel of it. She'd let her mind wander before, but never into anything so surreal. She uncrossed her legs and tried to stand-

Maya gasped aloud as a storm of pins and needles raced over her body from the waist down. She bit her lip as her lower limbs protested their sudden usage, threatening to dump her back onto the floor. Gritting her teeth, she tried to massage some of the blood flow back into them. _That's weird. My legs don't usually fall asleep that fa..._

The thought trailed off. Maya's hands stopped kneading her leg. Almost reluctantly, she reached for her ECHO device and checked the time display.

She stared at the display as the number changed twice more. She even counted the seconds to make certain her ECHO wasn't running fast.

It wasn't. She'd lost nearly an hour of time to her meditation.

Maya put the device away and straightened up and walked over to the window, ignoring the lingering stabs in her legs. She gazed down unblinkingly, searching the world's features for a pattern.

Clouds. Water. Landmasses. Mountain ranges, many of them. But no flashes of light dancing across their crystalline forms, nor any massive Vault symbol. _But it wasn't immediately visible,_ a small part of her mind whispered. _You had to strip away the world, first._

 _It was a dream,_ she tried to tell herself. _You nodded off during your meditation. You've done it before._

But that wasn't right, and Maya knew it. With one final look at the planet, she turned and walked quickly out the door. A handful of seconds later, she was in the elevator and heading for the bridge. The ship's sensors were incredibly powerful. Who knows what a focused scan on the mountain ranges might show?

Her friends would have to wait a little longer. She _needed_ to find out.

* * *

[...and that's two.]  


[Next week, the planning session with a helping of meet  & greet. Thanks for reading!] 


	8. Expectations, plans, and videotaped regrets

“You know, this _really_ isn't how I figured we'd be spending our first day out here.”

Zero glanced at Salvador. The smaller man was sitting across the circular messroom table, chin resting in his hands. A doleful expression plagued his face. “We battled in space, I aided in a rescue, And soon, we battle,” Zero said. He returned his attention to his sniper rifle, wiping its gleaming metal with a cloth. “It's been a _great_ day.”

“Oh, the dog fight was fun,” Salvador agreed, “but it's all we've done so far.” He sighed again rubbed his beard. “I thought by now I'd have collected two or three local animal heads for my quarters.”

:p “We are not equipped With a taxidermy lab. That would be messy.”

“What-a-dermy lab?”

Zero's hand stopped running over his gun. “Your statement contains Disturbing implications. You would hang _fresh_ heads?”

“Well, yeah. Otherwise, I'd miss out on the blood patterns on the walls.” Salvador's head perked up and he looked around at the mess walls with a thoughtful expression. “You know, I've always thought _this_ room needed more color...”

“Then break out the paint,” Gaige said from across the table. She was leaning over Cassidy's shoulder, peering at a screen. “Whatever else we do with this place, we're not mounting heads that leak blood everywhere.”

“Now, that's not fair,” Salvador protested. “I've heard you say you like getting brain on your shoes. What's your problem with bloody walls?”

“My shoes are one thing, the room where I eat dinner is something else.”

Salvador looked at Zero. “Come on, _amigo!_ Talk some sense into her!”

“Challenges _are_ life, But even I'm not _that_ brave,” Zero said flatly. “You're on your own, pal.”

“Krieg?”

“Deck the halls with bandit entrails!”

Salvador grinned and slapped Krieg on the shoulder. “See? _Krieg_ gets it.” He looked at Cassidy. “How about you, _pilota_?”

Cassidy winced. “Sorry, Sal. Entertaining the idea of, um... 'effluvium enhancements' evokes an urge to shriek _eeeeeeeewww_.”

Salvador heaved an enormous sigh and shrugged at Krieg. “Well, _amigo,_ looks like we're outvoted.”

“Don't listen to 'em, Isaac!” Krieg patted his shoulder and waved his axe at the large hologram revolving slowly over the table. “Let's go make them _pieces!_ ”

“That'll be a hell of a treat,” Salvador agreed. His eyes gleamed as he ran them over the ship's image. “When do we get to make a run on that bad boy?”

“Once Ax's ex has all the details and makes a plan,” Gaige said with a shrug. “She's the one paying for this mission.”

Cassidy stopped typing and frowned. “Should we be wondering about his wife?”

“Why would we wonder about his wife?” Gaige asked the question without thinking. She blinked as Salvador and Krieg both snickered at her words, and even Zero flashed up 'LOL'. She folded her arms and looked sideways at Cassidy, trying to hold back a smirk of her own. “Now you're just doing it on purpose, aren't you?”

Cassidy offered an innocent look and a charming smile. “Me?”

Gaige rolled her eyes and rubbed Cassidy's head affectionately. “Anyway, the question stands. What are you curious about?”

“The controllers of that craft,” Cassidy said, nodding toward the ship. “We intervened instantly at Axton's behest, but we know nothing about our adversary other than they sought to snuff out our soldier friend's spouse. Shouldn't we at least learn who we'd be battling?”

“Believe me, I _wish_ I could answer that.”

Everyone looked towards the sound of the female voice. The blonde woman from the transport was in the door to the mess decks, Axton at her side.

“I can't tell you their name,” Sarah said grimly, walking slowly towards them. “I can't tell you where they came from, or why they're waging this war against Dahl. I can't tell you because _we don't know._ ”

She sank into a chair, eyes dark as she continued. “I _can_ tell you that they've gone to incredible lengths to hide their identity. That every time we get close to a victory in space, they suicide their craft against our own. That debris analysis shows they rig their key systems with explosives, just to make absolutely certain there's nothing we can either salvage or use to identify them.

“I can tell you they've beaten us in every major engagement. That their tactics have turned an otherwise innocuous technology like a stardrive into a game-breaking advantage. That our ships will lock onto a target, only for it to disappear and reappear a split second later with guns blazing. That the average survival rate of one of our capital ships in battle with theirs is less then fifteen percent.

“I can tell you that our ground campaigns aren't going any better. That even though we outnumber them in human soldiers, they've managed to hold their own by supplementing their troops with robotic infantry. I can tell you these robots are a hundred times faster, stronger, more vicious, and more deadly than anything Hyperion could ever _dream_ of, and that they grind up commandos like wheat in a mill.” She gave a smile completely without humor. “Of course, if I _do_ tell you all that, you'll probably double your rates.”

Salvador chuckled. “You hear that, _amigos?_ She thinks all that danger is gonna make us ask for _more_ money.” He grinned widely as laughter rippled around the table. “ _Senora,_ if these guys are half as badass as you make 'em sound, I'll do this for _free._ ”

“Yeah, but you work for cheap, Sal,” Gaige teased. “Now me, I'm woman of refinement. I want enough of these killer robot parts fill the cargo hold. And my quarters.” She glanced at Axton thoughtfully. “Maybe yours, too.”

Krieg roared and pumped his axe in the air. “Fresh screams for my nightmares!”

“New and deadly foes?” >:) “You're only threatening me With a good time, ma'am.”

“Hey, Sal! Maybe we can mount a robot head on the wall!”

“Surrounded by-”

“ _No._ ”

Sarah looked at Axton in disbelief as the friendly argument continued. “These are the people you've been hanging out with?”

He smiled. “Ain't they great?”

“It's one thing to read about your little crew on paper, but to meet them in the flesh...” Sarah gave the group another onceover. A tiny half-smile wormed its way onto her face. “You all might just be crazy enough to pull this off.”

“ _Might be?_ ” Salvador crossed his arms and tried to look insulted. “You wound me, _Senora!_ I'm _el gigante loco especial!_ Of course we can do this.” He scratched his head. “Now, what exactly _are_ we doing?”

“Starting with a quick roll call, actually,” Sarah said. “I want to make certain I've got everyone straight.” She pointed to Salvador first. “You're Salvador, born and raised in the village of Ovejas. You've got a unique talent for gunplay and a rap sheet as long as my arm, which you somehow managed to earn in a single night.”

Salvador grinned reminiscently. “Now _that_ was a bar brawl to remember. Last time I ever fight with the Biter clan, though. I got all the blame for the chewed limbs.”

“Why did you get blamed? Were you fighting with or against these Biters?”

“ _Si._ ”

“Of course.” Sarah went on to Salvador's right. “Krieg, former Hyperion prisoner and torture victim. No public history prior to your escape from Hyperion labs. Highly effective killer and nigh impossible to stop.” She eyed him with a mix of pity and admiration. “I don't know how much it'll mean to you, but the damage you caused during your escape set Hyperion's bio-research back decades.”

Krieg gave a chuckle that was two-thirds snarl. “Eventually I'll drag the slice masters to the top floor with my hate escalator!”

“If that means what I think it does, they'll be in trouble.” Sarah pointed to Cassidy and hesitated. “You I don't know.”

“You can call me Cassidy.” She snapped off an informal salute. “I'm the _Pearl's_ pilot.”

“The pilot?” She gave Cassidy an appraising look. “You were the one who flew this vessel against that warship?”

“I did do my damnedest against your automated aggressor,” she said, nodding. “They were a trifle too tricky for me to take down on my own, unfortunately.”

Gaige left teeth marks in her lip to keep from laughing at Sarah's expression.

Sarah blinked and glanced sideways at Axton. “Does she always do that, or is she mocking me somehow?”

Axton snickered. “Not mocking you, honey. Promise.”

“Hmph.” Sarah stared at Cassidy for a few more seconds, then shrugged. “Well, uh... that's why you're part of a team,” she rallied. “So you've got someone to back you when you need it.” She tore her gaze from Cassidy and glanced around the table again. “Speaking of your backup, where _is_ Maya?”

“Not sure, actually,” Gaige admitted. “Last I knew, she was headed up here.”

“I'll call her,” Salvador offered, sliding off his chair. “She can't be _too_ far away.” He headed out into the hall, the door sliding shut behind him.

“Might as well keep going,” Gaige suggested. There was a hint of eagerness in her voice. “I know we talked already, but...”

“Oh, I know a good deal about you,” Sarah replied indulgently. “It seems like the Holloway family puts out a new bounty on you every week. Last I checked, it was five percent of their company stock and forty acres on Eden VI. They still can't get anyone to accept the job, though.”

“ _Really_?” Gaige grinned. “I scare all the bounty hunters that much?”

“Pandora certainly does,” Sarah corrected dryly. “Word hasn't leaked out that you aren't there any more. No one's willing to risk taking on a Vault Hunter on what's basically their home turf.”

“'Cept for One,” Salvador pointed out, coming back in and taking his seat. “He actually got you, too.”

“Sure, but he was after _Zero_ ,” Gaige pointed out. “I wasn't his real target, just an interesting opportunity.” She smiled faintly and rubbed Cassidy's shoulder. “Fortunately.”

“Which brings me to you,” Sarah said as she faced Zero. “You've certainly earned your enigmatic reputation. All I could really find on you was a list of kills you _might_ have been involved in.”

:) “I can kill your foes And fade away instantly. What more could you need?”

“One thing, to start with.” Sarah exhaled sharply. “I need everyone's help to storm that warship out there and acquire its computer database. If it's digital, I want it.”

“That's it?” Axton shrugged. “Sounds easy enough.”

“The objective is simple, but you'd better believe they won't make it easy,” Sarah cautioned. “This mission was conceived as a desperation attempt to get usable intel on the enemy tech.”

“You wanted some way to counter their stardrive,” Gaige hazarded.

“Not wanted. _Needed._ ” She clasped her hands together. “We're taking a real beating from these guys.”

“How bad of an ass kicking?” Salvador asked. “Like, rough night in the bar, or left to die in the desert by _banditos_?”

“Left to die in the desert, buried up to your neck, hands tied to your feet while ravenous fire ants are closing in on you. And the ants are _actually_ on fire. And you're the only source of water.”

Salvador winced. “Yike.”

“Yes.” Sarah traced the rank insignia over her eye. “In the last six months, they've taken four of our outer colony worlds, destroyed enough ships to count as a lost fleet, and captured two starbases. We've also lost contact with another three planets and their nine associated defensive ships.”

“Good god.” Axton's normally cocky expression was nowhere to be seen. “All this because of a _star drive?_ ”

Sarah laughed bitterly. “It gets worse. Their most recent attack could change the balance of power for decades. _Centuries_.” She raised her head and stared straight at Axton. “They... they took Theseus, Ax.”

“They hit _Theseus?_ ” Axton looked like he wanted to throw up.

“Not hit,” Sarah corrected. Her eyes were burning. “ _Took_. They've been occupying it for _three_ _weeks_.”

Axton slumped in his chair. “Good _god._ ”

“Whoa, whoa, hang on!” Salvador protested. “What are you talking about? What the hell's Theseus?”

“Dahl's training planet,” Zero said flatly. “It trains soldiers to serve them On the field of war.”

“It's more than that,” Axton said. His voice was leaden with shock. “It's one of Dahl's six major training facilities, a key shipyard and materiel supplier, and the _center_ of Dahl's manufacturing operations in this galaxy. It is supposed to be one of the most, if not _the_ most, secure planets _anywhere._ ” He stared at Sarah, a horrible blankness on his face. “How did it happen? Who let an armada of ships slip the defensive line?”

Gaige's eyes widened. “No one,” she realized. “Their teleporting drive-”

“-got their ships in past all the primary layers of defense,” Sarah confirmed grimly. “And, because Theseus was so far inside the core systems, Command thought it was safe. They had pulled most of its defensive fleet to scour the border systems for our elusive foe. By the time anyone could respond to their distress call, our enemy had taken the planet.”

“And they _held_ it? They're _still_ holding it?!”

“You remember Theseus' defense systems?” Sarah growled. “They took those first. They seized control of everything when the fleet attacked. Ground based cannons and shields, orbiting weapon platforms... all of it.”

“ _How?!_ ”

She shook her head wearily. “If anyone knows, they haven't told us grunts.”

“So... they're using your own defenses to keep you back,” Gaige prompted.

“With all their usual efficiency.”

“What about the students?” Axton asked. There was a painful desperation in his voice. “There are countless trainees on that planet!”

“We know there are resistance pockets on Theseus,” Sarah said. “Mostly instructors that eluded capture and a handful of senior students. They're trying to take the planet back, but with so few actual fully trained fighters...” she trailed off and sighed.

“ _No bueno,_ eh?”

“ _Muy malo,_ actually.” Sarah stared up at the warship hologram pensively, missing Salvador's surprised look.

“Did...did they kill the other students?” Gaige asked uncertainly. “The ones that aren't fighting?”

“Unlikely,” Sarah said. “That's a _lot_ of untrained, potentially useful personnel they'd be killing. It's more likely they'll try to brainwash or otherwise persuade as many as they can to join their army.”

“How did they do it?” Axton's tone was beginning to get some of its fire back as he absorbed the knowledge. “How did they come from nowhere to _steal_ one of our most important school worlds? Where did they get the ships and manpower?”

“That's another question the Intelligence crew would trade any two limbs to figure out,” Sarah growled. “They obviously have access to heavy manufacturing, but they've been just as skillful at masking the supply side of this war. We don't know _where_ they're getting the ships and infantry units from.”

“What _do_ we know about them?”

“Extremely little,” Sarah admitted. “All that's confirmed is that they started off as the military wing of some planetary theocracy that lost their civilian leader. Based on their actions, we believe the military commander took control and started this war.”

Axton sat back slightly, grim logic setting in. “Oh great, everyone's _favorite_ type of enemy. Professionally trained zealots.”

“Professionally trained zealots with the ability to teleport their ships in real time.” Gaige made a face. “No wonder you're losing.”

“The loss of Theseus is what prompted my current mission,” Sarah went on. “The idea was to send in a cadre of boarding craft while our capital ships tried to keep them contained.” She grimaced. “It _almost_ worked. We had most of their ships tied up with a firefight, my ship was almost in docking range of the target, then it jumped away.”

“And you got dragged along,” Axton said.

“Unfortunately.” Sarah looked around at the Vault Hunters, then at Axton. “For the most part.”

Cassidy coughed quietly. “Pardon me... but if they possessed a point-to-point propulsion system, how could conventional craft even _contemplate_ containment?”

“Observation,” she replied. “We've noticed they need a certain degree of clear space to make that kind of a jump. By keeping our capital ships out of their self-destruct range, but within what we're calling their 'jump arc', the goal was to keep them around long enough for the smaller ships to board and get the information Central Command was after.” Her finger tapped restlessly on the table. “Evidently someone didn't hold position where they were supposed to and let my target vessel slip the line.”

“Huh.” Axton glanced at the warship hologram. “The way you talk about these guys, I'm surprised they didn't just blow themselves up when it looked like you might get aboard.”

“Unprofitable action,” Sarah pointed out. “Why waste a ship when you can just repel the boarding party? They'd still have plenty of time to blow themselves up if it looked like we might actually _get_ something.” She shrugged. “At least, that's the way the mission planners figured it.”

“Your leaders bet your lives on a profit/loss margin?” Gaige grimaced. “That's _sick._ ”

“It's desperation,” Sarah repeated. “With Theseus under their control, they have access to some of the most advanced heavy manufacturing plants in the six galaxies. Couple that to their unknown support...” She shook her head. “Best case scenario for us, Intelligence estimates they'll have the ships to launch a full scale assault on Central Command in a year and a half. That assumes they _don't_ manage to threaten, beat, or bribe the planetary workers into going faster.”

“Right.” Axton crossed his arms. “So what's the worst case?”

Sarah's shoulders tensed. “Four months.”

“Holy _hell._ ”

“That's assuming maximum output of Theseus, with equal output from their silent partners, plus co-opting at least half the current trainees into service,” she elaborated. “Basically, everything going exactly right for them.”

Krieg cracked his knuckles. “Then let's blunt the butcher's knives!”

“Excuse me?”

“We make sure their operations around here _don't_ go according to plan,” Axton translated. “Where do we start?”

“Well, there's exhibit A,” Gaige offered, motioning to the revolving hologram. “Our friends from orbit. Currently, down hard in the middle of a mountain range. The only way to get to them is either air, or a narrow pass here.” A section of map turned red.

“We've got the air superiority for a change,” Salvador pointed out. “Wanna just fly overhead and beat on 'em until they give up?”

“They _won't_ give up,” Sarah said flatly. “They'll just blow the ship and the mission fails. No, we'll have to be more discreet than an airstrike.”

“What about an air _drop?_ ” Axton asked. “We've got two stealth shuttles docked. We could fly overhead and jump in by cover of dark.”

“There's something else,” Gaige said. “You're going to want to see exhibit B before you make a decision about anything.”

“Exhibit B?” Sarah's eyes narrowed. “What's that?”

A new image appeared next to the warship, a shimmery energy dome. It concealed most of the details, but it was just possible to make out a cluster of buildings surrounded by construction equipment. “B for base,” Gaige said. “Incomplete and only partly functional, but it still has an energy shield and enough defensive weapons to be annoying.” She pointed to the warship hologram. “That one was their supply ship. They say that much in the transmission we intercepted.”

“You've fully decoded the voice message?” Sarah leaned forward, her voice eager. “How did you crack their signal encryption? We've never been able to get _anything_.”

“A really good computer and a couple of smart siblings,” Gaige said, slapping both Cassidy and Zero on the back. “Put 'em together and there's _nothing_ they can't break.”

“So it would seem,” Cassidy said modestly.

“Less satisfying Than a breathing enemy,” Zero said. “But still challenging.”

Sarah exhaled shakily and folded her hands. Her fingers were quivering. “Let me hear it.”

Cassidy nodded. “I'll send it over the speaker.” A burst of static crackled around the room-

[-ow bad is the damage to your engines?]

[Bad enough. We aren't getting airborne on our own. We'll need some of your drones.]

[Those drones are crucial to the construction efforts! Diverting them from their labors-]

[Means your one and only supply ship is grounded until we can get our engines working _without_ mechanized support! How much do you think _that_ will set your little project back?]

[You've got enough disposable human labor on board, use _them._ I need your supplies more than your prisoners.]

[I will _not_ let enemy combatants anywhere _near_ our mostly highly classified secrets! You're just going to have to exercise your patience.]

There was an angry sigh. [Can't your VIP do anything useful? Drones are supposed to be his specialty.]

[The little princeling isn't interested in helping us get airborne. He's playing around with the sensors. Something about explosions that didn't happen.]

[Brat's useless half the time and indispensable the other half.] An aggravated sigh leaked out. [What about the ship that attacked you? Any idea who they were?]

[No idea, but their stealth technology was better than anything I've ever fought. We didn't see them until they opened fire, and even afterwards we couldn't hold a target lock worth a damn. With everything as wrecked as it is, we'll never be able to detect them.]

[Why haven't they finished you?]

[Again, no idea. But if we move fast enough, it'll be their mistake.]

Another sigh, reluctant this time. [How long before you're ready to move?]

[Using just the men I trust, eight hours.]

[Get that down to six. Risk using some of the ones you _don't_ trust if you have to. Lots more where they came from, after all.] The speaker fell silent.

Salvador frowned slightly. “That's it?”

“That's plenty,” Sarah interjected coldly. She glanced at Axton. “You caught it?”

He nodded. “'Prisoners.' 'Enemy combatants.' 'Disposable human labor.'” His eyes were filled with disgust. “They've got Dahl soldiers on board that ship.”

“They dragged captured soldiers all the way out here?” Gaige frowned. “Why would they do that? There's no way it's for just slave labor, not when they've got all this drone tech.”

“Whyever they brought them, it's going to force a change in our plans,” Sarah said. “This can't be a simple data heist anymore. We've got to try and get them _out_.”

“A rescue mission, eh?” Salvador cracked his knuckles. “Haven't done that for a while.”

“And we're on a much shorter clock than I expected.” Sarah turned to Cassidy. “How old is this message?”

“Nearly ninety minutes.”

“Then we've got just over four to six hours before they're 'ready to move', whatever that means,” Sarah said. “We need to have a strategy before then.”

“Going in with guns blazing usually works for us.”

Gaige looked towards the door. “Maya! Where have _you_ been?”

“Good question.” Axton spun his chair around, an irritated look on his face. “You missed everything.”

Maya shook her head and took a chair between Salvador and Krieg. “Trust me when I say that's not true.”

“What's _that_ supposed to mean?”

“I'll explain later, I promise.” Maya ignored Axton's confused and irritated glare, choosing to focus on Sarah instead. “How's the muscle pain?”

“Diminished,” Sarah assured her. She rotated her arm a few times and flexed her fist. “I feel stronger than when I woke up, too.”

“Glad to hear it, but don't push anything yet,” Maya warned. “You still need another regen session, remember?”

“Then let's finish this meeting so I can get that out of the way,” Sarah agreed. “Please enlarge the valley overview.”

The image of the warship tripled its size. Sarah stared at it, a finger occasionally tapping the side of her face.

After a few minutes, Salvador coughed. “Uh... whatcha doin'?”

“Strategizing,” she said distantly. “'Guns blazing' is one of my favorites too, but this time around, I can't risk starting with it.” She pulled her gaze away from the ship. “I need a stealth recon first.”

Salvador's face fell. “Stealth? You mean like 'sneak, sneak, don't shoot anyone'?”

The corners of Sarah's mouth twitched. “Afraid so.”

“Awww.” Salvador slumped in disappointment, while Krieg dropped his axe on the floor and tossed his hands up. Maya patted both their shoulders comfortingly.

Axton smirked at Zero. “At least it's right up _your_ alley.”

“That's actually what I had in mind.” She focused on Zero. “Can you scout that ship without being seen? Get in, get the lay of the land, then get out?”

>:) “Barely a challenge.”

“Then I need you to do it, as soon as possible,” Sarah ordered. “We can't afford to wait for this planet's nightfall, not now that we _know_ we're on a clock. How fast can you get there and back?”

“Getting in, all too easy.” :) “No need to get out.”

“Pardon?”

Zero tapped the side of his helmet. A video screen flashed up, replacing the warship. Zero raised a hand and waved. On the screen, his digital twin did the same. “Live image streaming, For all your covert op needs And requirements.” He tapped his helmet again, putting the warship and base back over the table. “I will infiltrate, Gather all useful knowledge, Then unleash havoc.” >:) “I cut down within, You rain fire from without. We'll meet up after.”

Axton mulled over the idea for a few second before nodding. “I can see that working. He's damn good at being sneaky, even better at killing.”

“Mm.” Sarah's lips were tight. “I appreciate the risk you're taking.”

Zero shrugged. “I've faced worse before.”

“How long will it take you to get to the ship?”

“A mere-”

“Hang on!” Maya interrupted. “What about the base? We can't just ignore it.”

“We'll focus on it after we've captured the warship,” Sarah said. “Besides, we don't have the firepower to breach a shield like that. Your ship would get picked apart by their defenses before you could bring it down.”

Maya held up her clenched left fist. The marks on her arm pulsed. “We've got more firepower than just the ship. With my increased powers, I could take out those cannons myself. That would leave the _Pearl_ free to bombard the shield unhindered.”

Axton glanced uncertainly at the pulsing limb barely three feet away from him. “Uh, not that I doubt your skills _..._ but you don't even know _why_ your powers are so amped up right now. Are you sure you want to risk them failing on you at a critical moment?”

Maya shot him a dirty look. “Thanks for the support.”

“Actually... he's kinda right,” Salvador said reluctantly.

“Sal!”

He gave Maya an apologetic shrug. “I was _there,_ remember? Your powers _did_ fail at a critical moment, it halfway killed you, and I... couldn't help you.” He looked away, avoiding Maya's eyes. “I don't want you to risk your life like that again.”

"I'm not letting a unicorn near a slaughterhouse!" Krieg snarled. "No matter how sharp the horn!"

"Guys, I can _do_ this!" Maya glared at around the table. "How many times have you trusted me? Trust me _now!_ "

"We all trust _you,_ " Gaige insisted. "It's this mysterious boost we're leery about!"

"But-"

“There's one other factor,” Sarah cut in. “We know there are Dahl POWs on that ship. Right now, they need those soldiers for something. We take out the base, maybe that need vanishes.” Her eyes darkened. “ I won't risk leaving them in enemy hands when we attack their primary outpost. They might kill every single one of the captives.”

Maya's fingers worked at the edge of the table. “That's an enemy stronghold on an almost unreachable planet,” she ground out. “Isn't destroying it worth more than the lives of a few soldiers?”

The expression on Sarah's face would have frozen a lava flow. It congealed the air as she stared into Maya's furious eyes. When she finally spoke, the single word could have been chipped from ice. “No.”

Maya blinked. Some of the tension and anger drained from her body. Her fingers stopped grinding into the table edge.

Sarah folded her hands and stared at Maya evenly. “The mission I'm contracting your group for is to free the Dahl POWs and take the ship. After that, I'll examine what we find and make a decision on the base. Now, if that's not satisfactory...” she crossed her arms and leaned back. “...then the mission doesn't need you.”

Maya was silent for a long moment, staring contemplatively at Sarah.

Eventually, Krieg leaned towards her. "Save the fire for the raw meat," he advised. "It's not the same stripping the flesh without you."

She held the look for another few tense seconds, then sighed and nodded. "Fine. I just hope we don't regret delaying action on that place."

“No more than I do,” Sarah assured her. “Are you in?”

Maya nodded. “I'm in.”

A satisfied and slightly relieved expression flitted over Sarah's face. “Good.” She turned back to Zero. “How soon can you be inside that ship?”

“One hour,” Zero said instantly. “The _Red Tail_ is a swift craft. I'll get in quickly.”

“Love the confidence. Where can we pick up your signal?”

“The bridge would be the best place,” Axton suggested. “It's where we usually meet up, anyway.”

“Alright.” Sarah took a breath and smiled faintly at Zero. “I don't usually see a point in saying this, but... good luck.”

“I've always believed Luck is for those without skill.” Zero rose and flashed a :) “I'm _very_ skillful.”

“May your skills hold out, then.” Sarah looked around as Zero exited the room. “Anyone have anything to add?”

“ _I've_ got a question,” Maya said abruptly. She was looking very closely at Sarah's pale color and slightly glassy eyes. “Have you eaten anything?”

Sarah shook her head. “We've been too busy discussing our plans.”

“You shouldn't have been,” Maya chided. Her anger was back, but it was cooler and aimed differently. She glared around the table at her friends. “I can't believe you guys. This woman sat with you after suffering near-fatal injuries and a draining recovery procedure, and _none_ of you thought to offer her food?”

The same guilty reaction rippled through five different people. “Whoops.”

“'Whoops.'” Maya rolled her eyes. “Unbelievable.”

“I don't-” Sarah began.

“You do if you want your strength back,” Maya interrupted sharply. She tapped a keypad on the edge of the table. A second later, a hole opened in the tabletop and a mug of steaming liquid appeared in front of Sarah. “Start with that. It's nutrient broth. Doesn't taste like much, but it'll get your stomach working. Then you can pick some _real_ food from the ship's menu.”

“There isn't-”

“There _is_ still time. You said yourself you had to recover, and feeding yourself is part of that,” Maya said relentlessly. “ _Drink._ ”

Sarah gave up and took a sip. “And here I was starting to think you didn't like me, Lady Siren. Now here you are, offering me dinner.”

“I've seen too much of your life to not like you,” Maya replied. She still sounded irritated, but the real anger was gone. “I just think we need to attack that base sooner rather than later.”

“Noted. Anything else?”

After a second, Gaige raised her hand. “There is _one_ last thing.”

“What's that?”

“Well... it's your ship.”

Sarah frowned. “What about it?”

“It's laying out in the snow, a couple hundred miles away. If you've got any gear or anything on it, we could-”

“No!” Cassidy burst out. “It's still unsafe!”

“If the engines haven't exploded by _now-_ ”

“Wait, wait, hang _on_ ,” Sarah interrupted. Her face was a mask of rigid control, but her hands trembled slightly as she set her mug down. “What do you mean, it's laying out in the snow? My ship was about a half second from going off like a bomb, I remember _that._ ”

“Except it _didn't_.” Gaige tapped a few controls, pulling up an image of the crippled vessel. “Against all the rules of the universe, your transport is still out there.” She glared at the picture. “Enigmatic little bastard that it is.”

“Still...” Sarah's haunted eyes played over the display. “Laying out there in the cold...”

“Within easy reach, too,” Gaige said. “I could be there and back before Zero even gets to that cruiser.”

“Gaige,” Axton tried to interrupt.

She kept talking. “I could figure out why it didn't blow, pull any gear you might need...”

“ _Gaige_.”

She shrugged. “You never know, it might even be salvageable.”

“ _Gaige!_ ” His tone finally made her fall silent. “Leave it.”

“It's fine, Axton.” Sarah took a deep breath and pulled her eyes away from the display. “You said it wasn't safe?”

Cassidy nodded quickly. “The engine system are stabilizing, but they're still suspect.” She fidgeted uncertainly as Gaige frowned at her, but plowed on. “I wouldn't advise approaching it any earlier than eight hours from now.”

Slowly, and with obvious reluctance, Sarah nodded. “If you think that's best.”

“But-!”

“No.” Sarah's tone was definite. “It's not the most important thing right now. We're a handful of soldiers about to try a high risk mission against an enemy stronghold. We can't chance losing a single person right now, Vault Hunters or not.” She looked Gaige square in the eye. “But I guarantee this: I _will_ want a mission out there. You can feel free to lead it when the time comes.”

Gaige huffed out a reluctant sigh, but nodded. “Oh, _fine_.”

“Is _that_ everything?” Sarah asked patiently.

“Yes,” Axton said with absolute finality. “Everything else can wait until after the warship is dealt with, including the V-”

“Sarah,” Maya interrupted. “When you're done eating, you should head for the medical bay. Another regeneration session will clear out the last of your muscle aches.”

“I'll be glad to feel them go,” Sarah said. “Now, is your food system capable of making a decent meal?”

“You can pull up the menu with the table's controls,” Maya replied, standing up. “Oh, and whatever you eat, just stay away from the drink labeled 'home-brew.' It's, uh...” she glanced at Salvador. “It's got a little bit of a kick.”

“Don't listen her, _senora._ ” He grinned at Maya. “Just because it got our resident lightweight table dancing doesn't mean it'll hit _you_ the same way.”

“ _Salvador!_ ”

Krieg leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. “I can still taste the feast when I lick my eyes!”

Maya put her face in her hands, her cheeks a brilliant crimson. “You two are insufferable.”

“You want insufferable?” Gaige cackled maniacally and fired a devilish grin at Axton. “Cassie, pull up the video recording from that night. Skip to the point where Axton joined in and stripped down to his-”

“That's it! Everybody out!” Axton jabbed his finger at the door. “Or _I'm_ playing the video of Salvador's first shower! From _inside_ the airlock!”

A handful of seconds later, the mess decks were empty save for Axton and Sarah.

She rested her chin in her hand and looked at him with a small smile. “Stripped to your what, exactly?”

* * *

[Next week's chapter may be either a day early or late, but either way, things start to get busy. Thanks for reading!]  



	9. Creeping and creepy crawlies

Gaige trotted down the hall, taking the long way to the elevator. If she had Zero pegged right, he'd already be in the _Red Tail_ running system checks. _Wait another two minutes, then full speed down to the shuttle bay. Thirty seconds to get up the ramp and into the_ Osprey _before anyone notices..._ she grinned. _Then it's bye bye, birdy._

“Going somewhere, _hermana?_ ”

Gaige skidded to a halt, grimacing in frustration. “Sal!” She turned around, grinning widely. “What, uh... whatcha doin'?”

“ _I'm_ going to the armory,” Salvador said. “How about you?”

“I'm...uh... going to check on the main guns!” Gaige improvised wildly. “Yep! Doing some calibrations! For the inevitable battles!”

Salvador smirked. “So why are you going towards the hangar?”

“I'm just... just...” She sighed and dropped the act. “Okay, I'm going to the _Osprey_. Just don't tell anyone!”

Salvador leaned against the wall. “What for?”

For a second, Gaige battled with the impulse to lie, but she couldn't think up anything plausible. “I'm going down for a quick look at Sarah's transport.”

“Oh, you don't say. I _never_ woulda guessed.” He grinned at her.

She glared right back. “You're a dick sometimes, you know that?”

“Who isn't?” He shrugged and straightened up. “What about what Sarah said? That it wasn't important right now?”

“Didn't you catch the look in her eyes? She didn't _want_ to say that.” Gaige scuffed her foot on the carpet. “Besides, I can be there and back before Zero even gets into that warship. He has to sneak in. I don't.”

“What if Cassidy takes control and flies the ship back?”

“I'm going to shut off all external comms as soon as I get in. The only way to fly it will be from the pilot's chair.”

“How 'bout if they just bring the _Grinder_ after ya?”

She shrugged. “I don't know, _then_ I guess I lose. But I still wanna _try!_ ”

Salvador ruffled his beard thoughtfully. “I dunno, Gaige,” he finally drawled. “I still think I shouldn't let you go.”

“Oh, come-”

“Without me, anyway.”

It took Gaige a second to find her voice. “What?”

“Bring me along, and I _can't_ keep you from leaving,” Salvador said innocently. “And if I happen to kill something on this planet, you help me put its head up.”

Gaige hesitated. “On the mess deck?” she asked weakly.

“Nah, I'll start with my room.” Salvador stuck out his hand. “Deal?”

Gaige's mind warred with itself for another few seconds, then her hand shot out. “Deal. Now let's _go._ ”

They were in the elevator and headed down before Gaige thought of something. “Uh... you did mean _animal_ heads, right? Not people heads?”

Salvador just grinned.

* * *

Zero activated the _Red_ _Tail's_ controls. The computer whirred to life as the engines spun up. He was noted everything looked good after the space battle, that the weapons and shields had fully charged...

And that the air pressure in the cabin had changed slightly. “I knew you would come.”

The air behind his chair rippled, and Cassidy flickered into sight. She looked slightly annoyed. “How did you detect me?”

“Holograms were my forte Long before your birth.” Zero turned his chair to face her. “You wish to join me As I infiltrate the ship. Is my guess correct?”

There was no chagrin in his sister's face, no fear in her eyes. There was only absolute determination. “I'm unwilling to let you wander into that warship solo. And stealth _is_ a family skill.”

“Stealth is not enough,” Zero said flatly. “Bloodshed will be required.” He kept his faceplate blank. “Do you feel prepared?”

“I have the skills to slay any who present problems,” Cassidy said firmly. “ _That_ flows in the family tree, too. From both branches.”

“In a true battle, Hesitation means your death,” Zero warned. “No chance for rewrites.”

“I _have_ fought and killed,” Cassidy insisted. “And _he_ was kin.”

“That was one battle In a group six weeks ago,” Zero countered. “You're _sure_ you're ready?”

Cassidy held his gaze for another few seconds, then shook her head. “No one is ever entirely ready for any event. We just give everything we've got to the goal.” She stared back into his faceplate, challenge growing in her expression. “And anyway, how ready did you feel the first time _you_ fought? Besides...” she glanced at the door, as if to make sure it was still closed. “Mom hadn't mastered mass murder prior to Pandora. Even she had to start somewhere.”

':| “I still harbor doubts That Gaige wants to be called 'mom'. Doesn't seem the type.”

“Maybe.” For a brief second, something like regret flickered in Cassidy's eyes. “But Mother isn't inside the ship this second, so I'll say it.”

“What about the ship?” Zero pointed out. “Who pilot the vessel When we call for it?”

“That's not even a potential problem.” She held up her wrist, and he saw a remote command pad attached. “I can call the craft to us with one button, or set the system to act in the _absence_ of a signal. In either event, the autopilot will rush to our rescue while engaging any enemies as necessary.” She folded her arms and stared hard at Zero. “So? Will you allow me to accompany you openly, or do I have to hide in the cargo compartment?”

:) Zero nodded. “You're welcome to join. I just wanted to make sure That _you_ were certain.”

Cassidy smiled tightly and jumped over the back of the pilot's chair. “Then let's get set to go save some...” She trailed off and twisted her head around, trying to get a look out at the shuttle bay. “Did you just see something?”

Before Zero could answer, the low rumble of engines rattled through the ship. “What the holy _hell?!_ ” He spun around just in time to see the _Osprey_ disconnect from the hull and zip away across the snow.

She leaned over his shoulder, staring in disbelief. “Did someone just steal our shuttle?!”

“In a manner of speaking.” Zero played back the video footage from the shuttle bay a minute earlier. Two figures sprinted through the door and into the just departed shuttle. “Gaige and Salvador.”

Cassidy's face fell. “Oh _man_ , Mom.”

“Yes.” ^ ^ “That's _your_ mother, sis.”

She gave him her best defiant expression. “I am _so_ sneaking into that ship with you, sibling.”

:D “And you do take after her.”

* * *

Maya stood on the bridge, arms crossed and glaring at the base hologram. She was so busy imagining the structure burning to the ground, she didn't even hear the elevator slide out of the floor.

“Bacon for your mind-words, Pretty Lady?” Krieg's heavy footsteps thudded over the deck until he was at her side. “You look like you've got chewing problems.”

 _Oh, fantastic._ “Think I'd rather deal with my thoughts on my own right now,” Maya said shortly. “Unless you think my mind is going to fail me at a key point, too.”

Her voice brought him to a dead stop. “You've held on to the hate bees, then?”

“Of _course_ I'm still angry,” she snapped, spinning to face him. “What did you expect? All we've been through together, all the fighting and killing, all the times we've kept each other alive, and _now_ is when you don't have my back? In front of an outsider, with an enemy at the gates?!” Her breath huffed out furiously. “Thanks a _lot._ ”

Krieg flinched, but held his ground. “Who can risk juggling glass eggs?” he growled. It was a tiger's whimper, a wolf's sob. “It's a spectacle too easy to destroy.”

“I don't break that easily!” Maya insisted, half-yelling. “Whatever you all think, I _know_ I have the power to take out that base, and that it won't fail me. I _know_ it!” She shook her head and turned back to the hologram, frustration mixed with hurt swirling in her chest. “I can't believe that you don't trust me.”

She heard Krieg gurgling something in his throat. She expected another growl, a comment about meat or fire or-

“I....do... _Maya._ ”

Her eyes widened. She turned around, her hand going to her mouth. “Krieg? Did you...”

“I'd let you reach into my brain and tickle the pain center!” he snarled. “I'd pet a hedgehog with my face if you said it'd purr! But I don't want to see you win the race if you choke on the turtle!”

Maya hesitated, looking intently at him. His body posture was the same as ever, his voice its customary shout.

Except he had actually said her name. Maya could hardly believe it. She was halfway tempted to play back the bridge video just to be sure. But there was something else in Krieg's eye, something a little more... _sane_ than usual.

It was enough to dissipate the cloud of anger in her mind.

“All right, Krieg.” She reached up to pat his shoulder. “You're forgiven.” She managed to work up a half-smile. “The others will probably have to grovel a little more.”

Diabolical laughter rumbled out of his chest. “I'll bring jerky and 3-d glasses!”

“Maybe I'll share it with you.” Maya sighed and turned back to the hologram. “I know you're all only concerned for my well being. It's just...that _thing._ ” Maya glared at the base. “That place is trouble, Krieg. It's trouble that we need to deal with quickly, and I'll never be able to convince anyone of that because I can't even explain how I know it.” Her gloved hand traced over her left arm for the millionth time in her life. “Not even to myself.”

“Why can't you run the firehose?”

“Because it doesn't make sense.” She pulled up a holoscreen and started manipulating the data. “Let me show you something. It's why I was late to the meeting.” A globe of the world four feet across appeared before them. “I started with a basic sensor image of the planet.” She tapped another few controls. “Then I took out all of the non-solid, non-mineral elements...” The water and plant life vanished, leaving a blue mud ball hovering in the air. “And then everything that doesn't have a crystalline molecular structure.”

Massive chunks of the planet's image dropped away. The only things that remained were the mountains. They formed a shape, rougher than the one in her vision, but unmistakeable all the same.

A massive Vault symbol, stretching from pole to pole.

Krieg's eye widened. “That's a _big_ Twinkie.”

“I haven't even shown you the best part.” Maya tapped another few keys. The original globe hologram reappeared next to the stripped away version. “This is where the base is.” A red dot flashed on the globe. “Now, look where it falls on the extracted map.” The two images merged into one.

The red dot glowed at the peak of the Vault symbol.

Krieg gave a suspicious growl. “There's never been a burglary in this town! How'd they find the safe?” He glanced sideways at Maya. “How did _you_ find the safe?”

She gave him a weary smile. “Would you believe me if I said I saw it in a dream?”

“ _I_ dream of killer aardvarks and the ravages of anthills!”

“I'll...assume that was a yes.” She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Nothing about this place has made sense since we entered orbit, and it is starting to drive...me... _crazy_.” Her breath hissed out through clenched teeth. “I came here for answers, not _more_ goddamned mysteries.”

They both stared at the map in silence for a minute. Then...

“You didn't share the feast of treasure and blood,” Krieg growled. “Why hoard the barbecue?”

“Where would I start?” Maya asked helplessly. “I don't know _why_ I know about this, I don't know _why_ it's so important that we take out the base...” Her finger tightened on her arms. “And I'm not totally sure we should tell Sarah about the Vault, either.”

“You don't trust Guinevere?”

“Guinevere's actions led to the fall of Camelot,” Maya pointed out. “Think about where she's coming from. Dahl had interests on Pandora, the most famous Vault planet, for thirty years before they were driven off. They've got a massive army, and they're losing a _war._ ” Her jaw clenched. “This world has a Vault symbol made out of _mountain ranges_ . For all we know, the whole _planet_ could be the Vault, and god only knows what that might mean for its contents.” She rubbed her mouth. “What Hyperion would have done with the Warrior is bad enough. Can you imagine what _anyone_ might do with a Vault like _this?_ ”

Krieg gave an uneasy shudder. “One butcher is as bad as the other.”

“Exactly. We _have_ to destroy that base, and make sure Dahl doesn't get _its_ claws into the planet, either.” Her face darkened. “And I've got no idea how to do that with a devoutly loyal Dahl commando on our ship and her still in love ex-husband, who happens to be my _friend_ , by her side.” _Nothing I could forgive myself for doing, anyway._

A subtle _thud_ , more sensed than heard, rippled up through the deckplates.

Maya frowned. “Did you feel that?”

Krieg's answer was a wordless shout. He jabbed his arm towards the dome.

She spun around just in time to see one of their shuttles racing towards the horizon. Maya's eyes were just sharp enough to catch the battle damage on its aft section. “That's not the _Red Tail._ What's Zero doing?” She keyed her ECHO. “Zero? Zero, you there?”

[Yes.]

“Did you just launch? I thought you were taking the _Red Tail,_ not the _Osprey._ ”

[I have not yet launched. Someone else has left the ship.] Maya could almost hear his :D [Have a guess on who?]

“Oh, for the love of-” Maya switched on her ECHO. “Axton, are you there?”

[Yeah, Maya, Sarah and I were just headed for the medical bay. What's up?]

“You're not going to _believe_ this one.”

* * *

Gaige leaned back in her seat and giggled madly as the _Osprey_ raced over the snow. “How long do you think it'll take 'em to figure it out, Sal? A minute? Two?”

“I give it-” A light started blinking on the radio. “Whoo. Even faster that I guessed.”

Gaige snickered again. “Let's see who's calling.” She pressed the receive button-

[What the _hell,_ Gaige?!]

[What in the six galaxies are you _doing?!_ ]

Salvador raised an eyebrow. “Ooo, Axton _and_ Maya. Not bad.”

Gaige didn't bother turning on the transmitter. She just sat back and listened, her grin getting wider and wider as the muddled shouting continued. After about thirty seconds, both voices abruptly cut out. “What, they're done already?”

“Maybe they're gonna take turns.”

[Gaige, this is Sarah.]

She glanced at Salvador. “Huh. Didn't see that one coming.”

[I can see you're receiving. You don't have to answer, but I do ask that you listen.]

Gaige and Salvador exchanged puzzled looks, but didn't say anything. Sarah didn't sound angry, but she didn't exactly sound amused, either. Just... businesslike.

[I would have preferred you wait until later to go to my ship. You pilot is still telling us it isn't safe, and everyone _here_ believes her. In deference to that, and your group's individualistic spirit,] (she said this with somewhat dubious approval) [we aren't coming after you. And, since you're dead set on going out to my ship, I'm going to offer you the mission I was saving for later.

[My quarters are up the main hall of my ship, about twenty yards from the bridge. Double doors on the right. I doubt you'll need the access code, but if you do, it's eleven, twenty-three, seventy-five. Inside, behind a picture on the wall, you will find a safe. _Its_ code is letters, not numbers, so enter...] Sarah's voice picked up a tinge of embarrassment, [Ess-Ell-Ay-En-Ay-Ay.]

Gaige found herself trying to spell it in her head. _S...L...A...N...A...A...?_

[There's a black metal case in there. Even if the ship _had_ gone up, that case would be intact. Get it, bring it back to me.] She fell silent for a few seconds. When she spoke again, she was clearly fighting for control of her voice.

[There's... an additional task. The bodies of my three fallen soldiers are... still in there. They deserve better than to be left just laying out in the cold. In honor of their service, please try and retrieve their tags for me. Once you've done that...] a sigh drifted out from the radio. [I want you try and destroy my ship.]

Gaige stared at the radio. “Did she _seriously_ just-”

[I won't be able to bring them home for proper burial. My team deserves some semblance of a decent funeral, and cremation with the vessel they died trying to save is the best I can do. If the self destruct functions, use that. It will create a nuclear pyre visible from here, and I think they'd all approve. If it's too badly damaged to self destruct, leave it alone. When this is all over, perhaps I can call on you to destroy it with your own ship's weapons.]

The radio fell silent.

“Well,” Gaige finally said, “that wasn't the mission I was expecting.”

Salvador shrugged. “We gonna do it?”

“If we can,” she answered. “The case sounds like the easiest thing to find. I don't know how much luck we'll have looking for a few dog tags. As for blowing the thing up...” She shrugged. “Until we find out why that ship didn't explode in the first place, I've got no idea if traditional self-destruct is even an option.”

Salvador squinted at the horizon. “Looks like we're about to find out. Isn't that where we dropped it?”

Gaige magnified the image of the landscape. Piles of snow were heaped to either side of a short furrow. “It's definitely an impact trench,” she confirmed. “Hang on, I'm gonna do a flyby.”

The _Osprey_ wheeled around, coming up directly behind the transport. Salvador whistled as he saw the blackened hull, twisted metal, and leaking fluids. “Looks even worse up close.”

“No kidding.” Gaige tapped the controls. “I'm gonna see if I can get a decent scan on the engines. Maybe from here, whatever is stabilizing the ship will be more visible than it was back on the _Pearl._.. huh.” Gaige trailed off as the scanner results came in. “That's weird.”

“ _Que es?_ ”

“There's some kind of... mineral deposits on the hull.” She examined the display more closely. “The scanner can't tell what it is, though.”

“So? There's rocks on the hull, big deal. It crashed, rocks went everywhere.”

“Yeah, but... I think these minerals are draining the overload power.”

Salvador scratched his head. “Rocks can do that?”

“On this planet, maybe.” Gaige spun the shuttle around. “Let's go take a closer look.”

“At _rocks?_ ”

“Power _draining_ , rocks, Sal.” Gaige's eyes were glinting as she maneuvered the ship down. “There might be some real technological potential here.”

“For... _rocks._ ”

“Yeah! Imagine if this mineral could be manufactured! If it can absorb energy just by touching a power source, there's all _kinds_ of applications!” Her imagination kicked into overdrive, whirling with possibilities. “You could line armor with it, maybe even starship plating! You'd just soak up whatever energy got fired at you! Or, or, or you could hook it up to a windmill! It'd store all the energy the machine generated with just a pile of mineral, no need for batteries! We could-” she noticed a slightly glazed expression coming into Salvador's eyes and changed tactics. “Uuhhh.... we could... figure out a way to make exploding bullets with it?”

He brightened. _“Now_ you're talkin', _hermana!_ Let's go!”

Gaige nodded. “I'm going to leave the ship hovering a few feet off the ground. If there _is_ some kind of power-sucking material in the dirt, I don't want it coming in contact with _our_ ship.” The _Osprey_ hovered to a slow stop. “Come on. We'll use the manual escape ladder at the machine shop airlock. No power in that thing.”

A few minutes later, they were standing in ankle-deep slush, snow melted by the _Osprey's_ engines as it hovered quietly overhead. Salvador shivered slightly as his shield adapted to the cold. “Damn. Shoulda brought a jacket.”

“If you'd stopped for one, I'd have left you behind,” Gaige said distractedly. She examined her ECHO, reading a data feed from the shuttle. “Looks like the highest mineral concentration is on the left side of the transport. Come on.”

The picked their way across the trench of disturbed blue snow. The pathway created by the crash was wide enough for them to walk side by side, walls of ice mounting high around them. Occasional patches of muddy ground were visible where the transport had scraped down to the frozen dirt, and every few feet, some piece of metal or other debris decorated the ground.

“With all this ripped off, I'm surprised there's much ship left,” Salvador commented.

“Does that mean you're starting to understand my frustration with it not blowing up?”

“Maybe a little.”

“Cool.” Gaige glanced at her ECHO once more, circled around the side of the transport... and froze. “What the hell are _those?_ ”

Glistening, slippery looking, purplish-yellow tubes about the size of Salvador's forearm covered the entire port side of the ship. A faint sucking, squeaking noise filled the air, and the whole side of the ship seemed to be pulsing.

Salvador squinted at the objects, trying to get a better view. “They look... kinda like grubs.”

“Ugh. That's what I thought you'd say.” Gaige's face screwed into the perfect image of the word revulsion. “And I really, really hoped you _wouldn't_.”

Salvador had to laugh at her squeamish expression. “Don't like big, juicy grubs, _hermana?_ ”

“I don't like little, dry grubs!”

“Don't blame ya,” he said lightly. “Dry ones don't really squish right when you chew 'em, and little ones just aren't filling. Plus, they don't-”

“SAL! Eeew!”

“ _Lo siento,_ Gaige.” He grinned. “Mostly.”

“Like I said: dick.” Gaige shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold. “Bleah! Gimme solid metal over gooey organics _any_ day!”

“Well, there's gooey things all over the shuttle,” Salvador pointed out. “We're gonna have to get closer if you wanna find these magic rocks of yours.”

“Wrong.” Gaige slipped her ECHO device back onto her belt and materialized a sniper rifle. “I'll pick 'em off a section of hull first. Then at least they'll be _dead_ gooey things. I'm used to _that_.”

Salvador looked uneasily at the sniper rifle. “You sure you wanna do that?”

“What do you mean?” Gaige raised the rifle and sighted a grub.

“Well, that ship is still iffy, right? Like, could go _kablooie_ iffy?” he pointed out. “You're really gonna _shoot_ at it?”

“Relax. There's like a one in ten thousand chance I hit something that'll set off an explosion.”

“Sure, but you don't really _aim_ very much, do you?”

Gaige pulled her eye away from the scope and glared down at him. “What, so I should let _you_ do the shooting? You aim even less than I do!”

“ _Si,_ but at least it's only the stuff in _front_ of me that blows up when _I_ shoot. I've seen you headshot a guy half a mile away when you _meant_ to hit someone six inches from your gun barrel.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “You say that like it's a _bad_ thing.” She sighted again. “Just watch.”

Gaige fired. For once, her shot was perfectly accurate. No sniper's bullet had ever flown so smoothly out the barrel of a gun, lanced through the air so delicately, or punctured the juicy, slimy flesh of an oversized larva so cleanly. Zero would have been proud to call the shot his own.

Until the grub exploded.

The Hunters staggered as the shockwave washed over them. Gaige had a split second to notice her shields had dropped by a third-

A second grub emitted a high-pitched shriek and detonated. This time, the blast flung both Hunters backward into a snowdrift, collapsing each of their shields.

Fortunately, the powder protected them from the worst of the third and fourth blasts.

The blast echos rolled away into the distance, and silence gradually fell over the tundra. The only remaining sound was the gentle squelch of the surviving grubs sucking contentedly on the hull of the transport.

Eventually, Salvador felt safe enough to push his head out of the snow and look around. “So... _that_ was fun.”

 _"_ Exploding. _.._ _larva!_ ” Gaige punched her way clear of the snow, fuming in both the literal and figurative sense of the word. “ _Chain reacting,_ exploding larva! What the hell kind of worm _explodes_ when you shoot it?!” She slapped a handful of snow on her jacket to douse the flames. “That is _so_ not cool!” Gaige squeezed out a small flame at the end of her pigtail and glared at the maggot encrusted ship, grinding her teeth. “Something is _really_ weird here, Sal.”

“Yeah, you actually hit what you were aiming for.”

“Not what I meant. Also?” She gave him a playful shove back into the snow. “Shut up.”

Salvador clambered back to his feet and brushed snow out of his beard. “What did you mean, _hermana?_ ”

“How many exploding things have we ever fought?” Gaige pulled out her ECHO device again.

“Uh...” Salvador frowned and tried to think back over the legions of enemies he'd killed over the years. “Including robots and guys with grenades?”

“Nope. Naturally explosive.”

“Ummmmm.... do mutated super-varkids count?”

“Again, nope.”

Salvador shrugged. “Beats me. Crystalisks when they die, I guess.”

“Yeah, that was pretty much my list, too.” Gaige scowled at her ECHO as she pressed the keys. “So how do these... oh, _damn_.”

“What?” Salvador tried to peer at the screen. “Whadya find?”

“My worst nightmare.” Gaige sighed and waved her arm at the slimy creatures. “Those... things on the hull? They're extracting energy from the transport's engines. _They're_ the reason it didn't blow up!”

“Wait, it's the worms now? I thought it was rocks.”

“It looks like what I read as a mineral was part of their biology.” She sighed at the blank look on Salvador's face. “Something in the worms is letting them drain and store power from the ship's systems. Their skin, or maybe some internal organ.”

“Maybe it's their slime.”

“Stop _saying_ things like that! _Ew!_ ”

“ _No lo siento,_ this time.” Salvador looked at the squishy creatures with new interest. “Worms that eat energy, huh? Never heard of that before.”

“Not to mention they explode when shot.” She stuffed the ECHO away and glowered at the larva. “But you're right, I've never heard of anything like them, either. I didn't even think a living creature could metabolize energy like that.” She rubbed her chin. “I wonder how they do it? Are they some kind of organic battery?”

“Just let me know if you're gonna cut one open,” Salvador said, chuckling. “I want time to duck.”

“No kidding.” Gaige stared at the larvae for a few more seconds, then sighed. “Well, that's disappointing. Weird, disgusting, bug babies are _not_ the reason I was hoping for.”

“What _were_ you hoping for?”

“I dunno, something less _gross_.” She started towards the ship. “Come on, let's see if we can find these personal effects Sarah wanted.”

“Ok.” Salvador pointed to the rear of the transport. The cargo bay door hung in ragged shreds, giving the impression of jagged metal teeth around a dark maw. “Looks like that's our way in.”

“As the only part of the hull _not_ crawling in grubs, yeah.”

The ship had crashed at an angle, putting the opening about chest height to both Hunters. Gaige and Salvador hauled themselves up and into the battered ship, moving carefully on the slanted, debris laden floor.

“So what's the plan?” Salvador asked. “Find the stuff, blow the place?”

“I'm thinking divide and conquer,” Gaige said, easing down the slanted floor. “You try to find the dog tags and the safe, I'll see if there's any bridge control left. If the whole system is completely shot, we'll do like she asks and plan on using the _Pearl's_ guns.” She picked her way over a hunk of ceiling. “Or we could just go back to shooting grubs.”

“What's that gonna do?”

“If the worms _are_ soaking up the excess reactor power, and we kill the worms, the power core will spiral back up into overload. The ship will blow up on its own, just like it was always supposed to.”

Salvador smiled deviously as he worked his way towards the cargo bay door. “I bet those grubs won't like us taking pot shots at 'em. Think we'll get 'em to attack? Throw their little gooey selves at us, maybe?”

“First off, ew. Secondly, _ew._ Third, they're _larva_ , what are they gonna do, slime us to death? And last of all...” she turned to Salvador, holding the door for stability. “Ew ew ew yuck _bleah!_ ”

* * *

[In case it wasn't clear, this: ':| is Zero's version of a raised eyebrow.] 

[Next week, a few people have a really bad day. Thanks for reading!]

 

 

 


	10. Know your enemy

"There's one thing I don't understand right now," Axton said. He was leaning against the wall in Sarah's quarters, arms folded and staring at the half-closed bathroom door. Zero's video feed hovered to his right, just inside his peripheral vision.

"Let me guess," Sarah called dryly. "Why am I getting dressed in private when you helped me strip?"

"Nah, I figured that one's just because you didn't want to risk becoming overwhelmed with lust and jumping me now that you've got your strength back."

"Interesting guess..."

 _I notice you didn't say_ no...

"...but what you _really_ want to ask is why I didn't chase after your shuttle, isn't it?"

"Bingo. You specifically told Gaige not to leave until we were done with the warship. All that stuff about respecting our independence aside, it still weakens our manpower if she and Salvador don't get back in time for the attack."

"True."

"And as much as you" _loved_ "cared for your team, I don't think you're so sentimental that you'd risk mission compromise for your fallen."

"You're right," Sarah said evenly. "I _am_ , however, optimistic enough to believe that subtracting two of your team _won't_ compromise the mission. That affords me just enough sentimentality to allow the reduction in manpower." Something in the bathroom went _zip_. "Besides, we were never going to be able to keep Gaige here without a total lockdown, and _that_ certainly wouldn't have gone over well."

"Time was, you would've risked pissing her off," Axton pointed out. "If a soldier under you command pulled a stunt like Gaige's, you'd" _tell him to run for the border planets_ "have 'em cleaning latrines. For a month. With half a toothbrush and one square of toilet paper."

"Your people aren't my soldiers."

"Principle's the same," Axton insisted. "Besides, I've seen you snap mercs back so hard they got whiplash. What's the deal?"

For a long moment, there was only the soft rustle of Sarah donning her clothes. "I learned a few things on Acheron," she finally said. "One of them was that sometimes, you need to let the young ones follow their hunches. They might just lead you somewhere useful."

"Or they blow up someone they're supposed to protect."

"Different situation. Gaige is curious, you used an asset as bait for a trap. Besides, you're not that young, either."

Axton winced. "Ouch. Always nice to hear tender words of affection from my dear, sweet wife."

"We're divorced, remember? I'm supposed to be a heartless, bitter shrew that you despise."

"Bitter shrews don't blow up their husband's assassins, then send a flirty text message," Axton quipped. After a second's pause... "Thanks for that, by the way."

"For what?"

"Jarter. That sergeant you killed on Pandora."

"Oh, _that._ " Sarah's tone turned lofty. "Jarter, ironically enough, was officially AWOL. I was executing a deserter." The sounded of a pistol chambering a round echoed out of the bathroom. "He never bothered to make certain his leave paperwork hadn't vanished halfway up the chain."  
Axton smirked. "Lemme guess. It got circular filed?"

"Went to the 451 outbox," Sarah corrected. "Harder to reconstruct ash." She pushed the door open and stepped back into the main cabin, arms held apart. "What do you think? And _don't_ say something juvenile," she added quickly. "I need your honest evaluation as a soldier, not an adolescent appraisal of my assets."

Axton blinked, then grinned and shook his head.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Not one damn thing, honey." He ran his eyes up and down Sarah's body. Her uniform was spotless and perfectly mended. The slump was gone from her posture, her hands were steady, and the fire in her eyes was more vivid than ever. "You look good," he assured her. "Like you're gonna go kick ass for the man."

"No." Sarah's gaze was far away. "Not for 'the man'. Not this time."

"Right." Axton motioned to the video feed. "You picked a good time to finish up. Looks like Zero's about to head in."

"Then we should probably get to your bridge," Sarah said, opening the door. "We'll need to be ready when he calls for us. How fast is this ship of yours?"

Axton grinned with pride as he walked next to her. "Fast enough. Even the _Fence's_ upgraded engines aren't this quick." A stray thought occurred. "I'm assuming you kept the name, too. Or was I wrong?"

"After all the hassle we went through renaming my transport _The White Picket Fence_ , do you really think I'd change it just because you left?" She paused. "What do you mean, 'too'?"

Axton shrugged and walked a little slower. "The code to the cargo bay was still our anniversary. The code to your quarters was still my birthday. And even though I'm not sure the 'And Always' part is still true, SLANAA still means-"

"Yes, I kept the name," Sarah cut him off. "I kept all that." He could feel her gaze on his neck. "While you kept my ring."

Axton resisted the urge to grab the ring laying against his chest. "Yeah."

"Even after I said I never liked diamonds." Her voice was almost... guilty.

 _Yeah, right._ That _one you're imagining._ "It was like three paychecks," Axton shrugged. "I wasn't gonna throw it out an airlock."

"You could've sold it. I'm sure you must have needed the money at some point." It was funny how he could feel Sarah's eyes on him, even while she was looking straight ahead. "I always imagined you probably used it to bribe a pilot to get you to Pandora, or pawned it for a new gun."

"Nah. No need. You can find a gun in the trash if you're _really_ desperate."

"Axton..." Sarah hesitated, then plunged ahead. "Were you... happy? On Pandora?"

"Happy?" Axton glanced her, slightly confused by the question. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, were you _happy_ there?" Sarah persisted. "Was life on that crazy, lawless world all that you could hope for? Did you ever wake up and think to yourself, 'man, I'm glad I'm here today! I sure did make the right decision!'?"

Axton had to laugh. "Well, it _was_ nice to wake up without reveille blasting in my ears." They came up to the elevator and he pressed the call button.

"So I imagine."

"I did meet up with an awesome group of people." The elevator arrived, the doors slid open, and they both stepped in.

"Very true."

" _Not_ to mention I killed the biggest asshole born in the last century or two." The lift began its way up to the bridge.

That one evoked a tiny smile. " _There's_ a feat to be proud of."

Axton nodded. "Yeah, life back there was pretty good. Life on this ship is pretty good, too." He paused as the elevator began to slow. "Only one thing really could have it made it better then. Or, just maybe, better now."

The smile vanished like a spark in a hurricane. "Don't say it, Ax. Please don't."

He shook his head. "I won't. We've got a mission to complete. Besides, I know you're not going to abandon those prisoners to the not-so-tender mercies of an enemy. Still..." He shrugged. "We've got a big ship. We can take a lot of passengers. Just maybe, after all this is over..."

Sarah gave him a pained look. " _Axton_..."

"But, that's the future. Right now, we've got a ship to capture and some soldiers to rescue." He motioned to the open doors and the bridge outside. "Shall we?"

* * *

Zero kept the _Red Tail_ low and slow as they flew towards the downed cruiser. They still had hours on the clock, and he knew from past experience how critical stealth could be when infiltrating an enemy stronghold.

As long as it wasn't Pandora, anyway. Stealth didn't _exist_ there.

He heard Cassidy clear her throat behind him. "What do you think?"

Zero turned and ran a quick eye over his sister. Shields, grenades, a set of his old elbow blades, but... "You're not wearing guns."

Cassidy shrugged and dropped into the co-pilots chair. " _You_ stick to your sword as much as situations allow."

"You don't have a sword, either." :[ "You can't go unarmed."

Cassidy huffed out an irritable sigh and digistructed a bladed pistol into her left hand. "I'm armed, I'm armed." The gun vanished. "It's just that I wanted to test my true talents instead of shooting every enemy soldier we see." Her fingertips hummed faintly, surrounded by a faint blue glow. "Call it a challenge."

':] "Have it your way, then." They sat in silence for a few minutes, then he said, "She can take care of herself. You shouldn't worry."

Cassidy didn't even try to deny it. " _Why_ wouldn't she heed my warning?" She burst out. "Why was investigating that infernal wreck worth risking herself?!"

Zero shrugged. "She's a Vault Hunter," he said. "We _thrive_ on danger and risk, Seeking adventure." :/ "You know the feeling. If you didn't feel the same, You wouldn't be here." He rotated his seat to face her. "Be honest with me. You're more hurt she ignored you Than afraid for her."

"No!"

Zero merely stared at her, his blank faceplate inscrutable. Cassidy stared back defiantly, her expression daring him, brother or not, to push the issue further.

The console beeped softly, drawing his attention. _Saved by the bell, sis._ "We're approaching the target. Get ready to move." He looked out the window. "I have the mountain."

Cassidy sat up straight and stared into the distance, the discussion shoved aside. "So I see."

The gray granite spire lanced upwards from the horizon. It was part of a mountain range, but dwarfed all the peaks around it. The smaller mountains glimmered in the sunlight, their surfaces laden with a sapphire-colored mineral. This one jutted out from its crystalline brothers, a solid spike of plain rock with only trees to break up its uniformity.

"Where did the warship wipe out?" Cassidy asked.

"A small valley halfway up." He reduced engine speed, and the _Red Tail_ slowed to a hover several hundred feet below the crest of a tree-lined ridge. "The target is up there."

Cassidy nodded and tapped the control pad on her arm. "Aft airlock accessed." She looked up at him. "Are you going to contact our craft? Start sending your visual signal?"

Zero nodded and tapped the side of his helmet. A light blinked on interior display, indicating the _Grinder_ was now showing a video feed from his suit's camera. "Done."

She broke into the timeless, eager grin of a young soldier about to kick ass for the first time. "Let's go after some _action._ "

>:) "A fine plan, sister." He stood up and tapped his ECHO device. A pair of metal blocks materialized in his hands. Zero attached one to his belt and held out the other to Cassidy. "Here."

Cassidy took the object and traced her fingers over one of the narrow, darker bands of metal wrapped around it. "You've utilized this trick before?"

"Quite successfully." Zero opened the cockpit door and headed towards the machine shop, Cassidy right behind him. "They never see it coming." He fingered the sword hilt on his belt. "Or anything else."

"If you say so." Cassidy continued turning the block over in her hands. "When should I adjust the ship's angle?"

"Once we're on the roof," Zero said. He stepped into the machine shop and crossed over to the airlock. "I want a clear line of sight Before I decide." He opened the inner door and stepped in.

Cassidy followed and sealed the door behind her. "Ready."

Zero opened the outer door. He snaked his hand into a narrow groove over the door and pulled, heaving himself outside. Keeping his body pressed against the hull, Zero started climbing towards the roof.

Climbing up the _Red Tail's_ side proved much simpler than sprinting across the _Grinder's_ underbelly. No biting, gale force winds, for one thing.

Once he had reached the top of the shuttle, Zero pulled the metal block off his belt and set it on the hull. He clicked a tiny switch, and the dark bands glowed green. The sides of the block slid outward, magnetically locking to the hull as it grew. The expansion continued until the pad was fully expanded and anchored. The glowing green strips of metal pulsed brightly, indicating the power supply was fully cycled up.

The portable jump pad was ready for use.

Zero looked to his left and saw Cassidy had done the same with her device. He looked over and flashed up '?'

She responded with a thumbs up and tried to shout a question back.

Zero shook his head. Even running in silent hover mode, the _Red Tail's_ engines were too loud to speak over while they were standing on its hull. {Go ultrasonic.}

Cassidy nodded and tapped her throat. She asked the question again, this time using their family's unique communication method. {Have you approximated the appropriate angle?}

Zero glanced at the ridge overhead. His interior display flashed up the wind speed, air density, distance to the mountain. He ran the numbers twice, just to be certain. If his math was too low, he'd end up a smear on the mountainside. Too high, he'd catapult too close to the warship and end up a _bullet-riddled_ smear on the ground.

The numbers checked. Zero relayed the information to Cassidy, then depressed a button on the side of his jump pad and knelt over it. He watched as she adjusted the _Red Tail's_ pitch, perched like a sprinter itching for the starting gun. He could feel the slight push as the device overcharged. _A few more seconds..._

The jump pad turned red.

{Now!}

Zero released the switch. No longer restrained, the pad hurled him through the air. He straightened his body, cutting down his wind resistance. He watched his helmet display track the arc of his trajectory...

The calculations had been perfect. Zero's momentum depleted exactly as he crested the lip of the valley. He landed with hardly a rustle of the blue grass under foot, well away from the ship and cliff edge.

Cassidy's landing kicked up a small cloud of dust, but nothing worse. Her eyes were shining with exhilaration as she looked at Zero. "That was _fun!_ Can we f-"

Zero clapped a hand over her mouth and held a finger to his faceplate. {Stealth is paramount With the insertion complete. _Stay_ ultrasonic.}

{Right.} Her face worked its way back to serious. {My bad, brother.} She looked down into the valley at the fallen cruiser. {What now? Work our way to the warship?}

{Very discreetly,} Zero agreed. {We wait for the right moment To reveal ourselves.}

{Got it.}

Zero motioned to the surrounding trees. {We take the high road.}

The warship had chewed through a wide swath of forest as it made its forced, unstable landing, but enough large trees remained for Zero's purpose. Approaching from the treetops reduced the chance of anyone seeing them with a simple glance, the thick, dark blue leaf cover affording greater opportunities for stealth. Even more advantageous, there didn't seem to be any outside activity.

Cassidy had noted that as well. {No people patrolling the perimeter. Wonder why.}

{Shorthanded, I hope,} Zero said. {So much damage to repair, Too few crewmembers.} He pointed to a section of the warship's hull. A hole nearly ten feet across gaped at them, red light spilling out of the wound. {Let's go in through there.}

The rip led into a large storeroom, still bearing the signs of battle. Scorch marks from recently doused fires, light fixtures dangling from the ceiling... and several bodies laying where they'd fallen.

{Do you think they're Dahl?} Cassidy asked grimly. {Sarah's detainees?}

Zero examined one of the bodies quickly and shook his head. {No insignia.} He started forward towards a large blast door, nearly twelve feet across. {Let's see if this will open.} He pressed the keypad on the wall.

The door sprang into two halves and retracted into the wall with an uncomfortably loud _clang_. Zero's hand dropped to his sword, but no alarms sounded. {What a shame.} He glanced back at Cassidy. :( {No guards.}

She just rolled her eyes.

The halls stayed silent and empty as they progressed. Even the ambient noises Zero had come to expect from starship operations were missing. The ship itself was bigger than he'd expected: the corridors were wider and higher the _Grinder's_ , but with none of its lavish environment.

{It's a very stark ship,} Cassidy noted. {Just steel and silence.}

{All this ship is for Is the practice of killing,} Zero pointed out. {This is no one's home.} A glowing panel in the wall caught his eye. {Look.}

{A computer console!} Cassidy darted over.

Zero winced inwardly at her lack of caution, but again, the halls remained silent.

{It's fully functional!} she reported. {Should I see if I can suss out the soldiers?}

{If you can do it Without raising the alarm,} Zero said. {I'll keep you covered.}

{Clear.} Cassidy started typing rapidly. A symbol flashed onto the screen briefly, some kind of elaborate lightning bolt shooting from equally stylized clouds. It quickly spun off into a corner, and a scrambled, shaky user interface appeared. {The mainframe is _mangled_. It's only running rudimentary security.} She smiled tightly. {Should I do the datapull Sarah initially sought?}

{Not necessary,} Zero pointed out. {Capturing the ship nets all.} He took one last look down either direction, then turned to watch the screen. {Find the prisoners.}

{Right.} Cassidy pressed a few more keys. After a few minute's search, she managed to pull up a floorplan of the ship. {There's no designated detention center,} she noted, {but there _is_ a sealed sector on the starboard aft section. Far from weapons systems, or anything else worrisome to the wardens.}

{Ideal for jailing,} Zero agreed. {Let's see how-}

A shrill, braying alarm resounded throughout the ship. The overhead lights began to flash, and suddenly voices came echoing all around them. Further down the corridor, doors thundered open, and footsteps pounded over the metal deckplates.

Zero looked sharply at Cassidy. {Did you-}

{No!} Cassidy yanked her hands away from the keyboard. {Whatever happened, I didn't do it!}

Zero was about to say something when a flash of motion caught his eye- _{DOWN!}_

Cassidy flung herself aside as Zero lunged forward, his sword flaring to life-

-and skewered the soldier behind her. His gun clattered to the deck as blood leaked from his chest.

But now the troops were bursting out of every door, weapons in hand and faces grim. One of them waved his arm towards the front of the ship. "Come on, we've got to-" His voice broke off as he caught sight of Zero, Cassidy, and his dead comrade. "What the f-"

Cassidy heaved herself off the floor. Her hand seized the man's face, and he shrieked as a burst of electricity pulsed. She opened her fingers and leaped away, vanishing into nothingness.

The man was dead before her hand opened.

" _Fire! Kill the intruders!_ "

They were _definitely_ well trained. Neither Cassidy's disappearance nor the death of one soldier right in front of them evoked any swears or hesitation. The men simply opened fire, filling the hall with countless bullets.

It wasn't enough.

"Quite admirable!" Zero hurled a kunai through the eye of the closest soldier and vanished. He leapt over the heads of three others, landing behind the one furthest away. He slashed downward, his blade carving through muscle and bone. "You should be a great challenge!" He leapt forward before anyone could react, his blade lancing through another soldier. "Or a good warm up!"

He could _feel_ the laser sights tracking him. Zero jumped backwards, pulling free of his victim-

A volley of gunfire tracked his movement, the projectiles cutting through his torso-

Another solider fell as Zero's blade pierced his throat. The decoy overhead exploded in an electrical burst, staggering another two soldiers. Zero lunged between them and spun around, decapitating both men instantly. He whipped back around, blade at ready... and saw he was out of targets.

Zero straightened up and flicked blood off his sword. {I got my seven. How did you do, little sis?}

{ _Still_ battling, brother!}

Zero turned and saw Cassidy standing in a circle of dead soldiers. Burned hand prints adorned each of the fallen, mostly over the heart or face.

One, however, was still locked in hand-to-hand combat. {What's holding you up?}

{Grounded shield,} Cassidy snarled. {Can't shock his system!}

Zero leaned against the wall and folded his arms casually. {Old fashioned way, then?}

{Seems so.} On the next punch, Cassidy seized the man's fist and _squeezed_. He shrieked as the bones in his hands crunched-

Her pistol's blade slashed at his throat.

There was a brief gurgle, then silence.

Silence from the man, at least. The alarms continued to blare throughout the ship. Cassidy darted back to the computer terminal. {More soldiers will be coming,} Zero cautioned. He drew his sword again. {Not that I _mind_ , but...}

{I'm taking the time to seek the source of that alarm!} Cassidy growled. {It shouldn't have activated by my actions alone! I require a reason!}

 _I will never doubt Whose daughter you truly are._ {Found anything yet?} he asked after a minute.

{No additional enemies approaching,} she reported. {The fighters are all flooding forward. There's an...atmospheric anomaly they're targeting.}

{What?}

{Look!} An image flashed up on the screen.

Zero leaned closer, staring at the purplish-white sphere of light on the display in disbelief. If he'd had a jaw, it would have dropped. {That's _impossible_...}

{What? What is it?}

{It bears a strong resemblance To Lilith's Phasewalk,} Zero said. {But I don't see how-}

The sphere pulsed and flashed a blaze of light bright enough to make them both look away from the monitor. A sonic boom crashed through the hull, rumbling the ship underfoot. As the light dimmed, Zero turned back to the screen. '?!' {What are _they_ doing up there?!}

The _Grinder_ hovered overhead, revolving slowly in the air. Bursts of light seemed to be flashing from inside the dome, but its weapons were silent.

Cassidy stared in horror. {Our ship's shields are down! If these guys get any guns going-!}

Another flare erupted from the screen, and for a terrible instant, Zero thought he saw their ship burst into flames. Then he realized the fire was moving _away_ from the _Grinder_ , plummeting towards the ground like a comet.

{Outside!}

A hundred yard sprint down the hall brought them to another hull breach and back outside. Screams and gunfire echoed over the landscape, and great explosions shattered the mountain air around them.

Zero turned to Cassidy. {Assist the _Grinder!_ Get her weapons and shielding Up and running _now!_ }

{Got it!} She raised her arm and started entering commands. {What will you do?}

{Learn what's happening, Prevent the ship's destruction, And kill _everyone!_ } Zero sprinted for the front of the ship, the sounds of battle raging and growing more intense with every step. He rounded the vessel's nose, blade in hand and ready for anything.

Or so he thought.

The land around the front of the warship wasn't a battlefield. It wasn't even a warzone. Those terms implied a two-way struggle, a conflict between reasonably balanced sides.

This was a killing floor. Dozens of soldiers lay strewn across the ground, most of them scorched, many of them not completely intact, all of them unmistakeably dead. Zero caught sight of three survivors running at full speed away from their ship, firing wildly in every direction. His legs tense, and he prepared to leap at them-

The lead soldier halted in mid-step, his body encased by yellow light. Zero had a second to notice the absolute terror on his face-

The man _exploded._

There was no other word for it. One second there was a human body dangling in the air. The next, a rapidly expanding cloud of red mist, drifting slowly to the ground. The other two soldiers skidded to a halt and spun around, firing desperately at a figure walking towards them. It was wreathed in yellow energy that licked the air like flames. Each footstep left a crater as it approached them-

" _Maya!_ "

She didn't hear him. Zero wasn't even sure she could. Maya's eyes were blue-white with power, her left arm glowing and crackling with energy. Her hair writhed like something alive, and her face was a snarling mask of hatred. She pointed her left palm at the second of the soldiers-

Red mist.

The last one had a grenade in his hand. Zero started to shout a warning, but Maya didn't need it. With a scream like rending metal, Maya leaped into the air. She hurtled towards the man, her left arm leaving trails of light as she swung her hand at him, fingers hooked into claws and striking at his face.

The final soldier hadn't even had time to pull the pin. The man dropped to his knees and slumped sideways, hand clenched around the useless grenade.

Maya dropped what was left of his face on the ground a second later.

Zero tried again. "Maya!"

She spun around, and Zero couldn't help but take a step backwards. He couldn't see _any_ of his friend in that visage, none of the intelligent, slightly aloof, but reasonably sociable woman he'd come to know and like. There were only whited-out eyes and black rage contorting every line of her face.

For one brief and uncertain second, Zero felt certain Maya was about to attack him. His hand tightened on his sword...

"Zeeeerooooo..." Maya's voice leaked out in a barely recognizable hiss. "Ssstaaand aaassssiiiideeee..." She raised her finger, pointing straight at him.

'?!'

"Brother! _Behind you!_ "

Zero's instincts took control. He obeyed his sister's warning and dove for the ground, not even questioning _why-_

A cannon shell whistled past his helmet as he dropped. If he hadn't ducked, it would have gone through his chest to get to Maya.

Her eyes narrowed.

The shell disintegrated.

Zero rolled onto his knees and saw a massive war mech, ten feet tall and lethally armed. Its steps rattled the ground as it stomped forward, and the five-inch cannon on its left arm was trained perfectly on Maya-

She didn't shriek this time. She didn't jump. Zero didn't even see her lift a foot.

But suddenly, somehow, she was clinging to the suit's cockpit, shards of metal flying all around her as she ripped it apart with her bare hands. The suit's right arm crashed to the ground, sparking, an inch deep bootprint embedded in its shoulder. Maya punched at the cockpit door and buried her arm into it up to her shoulders. She heaved, and the door flew away like paper in a high wind. Light flared from her arm once more-

The suit toppled backwards, crashing to the ground with deafening thunder. Where there had once been a pilot, there remained only red liquid.

Slowly, silence fell over the valley. The light around Maya dimmed and vanished. Her left arm went dark, and Zero saw her shoulders relax. "It's okay, Zero," she called softly. "It's over."

He pushed himself off the ground, looking around the blood soaked terrain. "It's true they're all dead." He stared at Maya's back- she still hadn't turned to face him. "But I do not think 'over' Is the right word here."

"No, I suppose not." Now Maya turned around, and Zero was relieved to see her eyes had stopped glowing. "They still have backup coming from the base." She smiled in a thin, cold way Zero had never seen her use before. "Not that there's much left for them _to_ back up."

Cassidy walked slowly towards Zero, surveying the area with horrified awe. "You did all this damage _alone?_ " She stared at Maya open-mouthed. " _How?_ "

"The famed power boost," Zero said evenly. He watched Maya carefully, glad that his normal expression hid so much.

She could still tell something was wrong. "What is it, Z?"

Zero almost lied. He almost said 'nothing'. Somehow, though, he sensed Maya would _know_ he was lying, and that she would never forgive him for it.

So he masked the bigger truth by telling a smaller one. "I am slightly troubled by Your actions just now," Zero said, waving his arm at the carnage around them.

Maya's expression darkened slightly. "I just cleared out the last of their soldiers _and_ saved you from that mech suit." Her voice was one degree above threatening. "Do you really have a problem with that?"

Zero shook his head. "They were enemies, Ultimately doomed to die. But _this?_ " :/ "Overkill." He watched Maya's eyes closely, looking for any sign of that eerie light returning. "My question is _why._ Why did you kill _these_ men with Such extravagance?"

Her eyes were still their normal blue-gray, but there was a look in them Zero didn't like. It was as if she were deciding his value as an asset...

Maya shrugged, and the look was gone. "It was personal."

" _Personal?_ " Cassidy looked at the fallen. "You knew these people?"

"In a manner of speaking. It was that terminal you accessed that tipped me off..."

* * *

"They found a computer!" Sarah almost leapt out of Axton's chair, her body taught with anticipation. "We're recording this, right?"

"Of course," Maya assured her.

"Can you start running a separate feed for me? Something I can slow down and replay as it comes in?"

"Um... I think so." Maya brought up another holoscreen, looking away just as the stylized cloud symbol flashed up on the warship's computer. "Let me see... yes, here it is. Just give me a second to set it up... you're good."

A holoscreen flashed up in front of Sarah, showing the hall. She examined the controls. "Ax, how do you run this?"

"Uhhhh..."

A laugh rumbled out of Krieg as Axton dithered over the controls. "Too much time cleaning the guns, not enough time shooting."

"Bite me, muscle boy," Axton growled. "Like _you_ know how to use these things."

"Well, you two don't, but _I_ do," Maya interrupted wryly, smirking as Axton and Krieg glowered at each other. The playback controls appeared under her hands while the video image reminded floating in front of Sarah. "Krieg's not totally wrong, though. Axton spent all his time in the gym on the way out here. It's amazing he can work the food dispensers."

Sarah gave the tiniest of laughs. "That's nothing. You should have seen the first time he tried to wash his clothes on _my_ ship."

Maya smiled distantly as she toyed with the playback. "Let me guess. Flooded the laundry room?"

"And the cargo bay, and half the hallway up to the bridge. Hold it!" Sarah hand jabbed towards the screen. "There! What was that?"

"I missed it. Where?"

"Back about five seconds...stop." Sarah gazed intently at the screen. "I'll be damned. It looks like we got an identifying mark."

"From their computer?"

"It's on the start-up screen," Sarah said. "Can you put up a bigger version?"

"Easily." A still image of the cloud/lightning bolt flashed up overhead. "That should do-" Maya broke off as she caught sight of the picture, her hands frozen over the controls.

Axton peered at the image. "It's not a sigil I recognize."

"Neither do I, but I'm sure the intelligence boys will," Sarah said confidently. She shook her head in disbelief. "God damn, we've _finally_ got something to go on."

"If you say so." Axton squinted at the design. "What's that even supposed to be?" he wondered. "A stormcloud?"

"Danger on the horizon."

For a second, Axton didn't realize who had spoken. Then he glanced around the bridge, and it couldn't have been more obvious. "Maya? What's wrong?"

"It's the far-away threat," she went on, as if she didn't hear him. Her voice was twisted and choked, almost unrecognizable. "The oncoming nightmare. The inevitable doom." Her hands were clenched and trembling at her sides. The left one slowly dripped red onto the floor.

Krieg laid an uneasy hand on her shoulder. "Pretty Lady...?"

"It's _them_ , Krieg." She whirled towards him, absolute hatred blazing in her eyes. "Those manipulative, worthless, condescending _bastards!_ "

The screens across the bridge began to flicker.

"Hold on a minute." Sarah got to her feet, ignoring the fritzing video screen. "You _recognize_ that symbol?"

"I should!" Maya snarled. "I grew up seeing it! Every room had a picture of it, every building a mural, every single damned _one_ of them wore it on their robes!"

The screens flickered more wildly, their images breaking down into random pixels. The deck began to vibrate subtly underfoot.

Axton stared. "Wait... you mean that symbol belongs to-"

"The people that raised me to be their weapon. The monks that hid me away from the universe. The church that stole my _life!_ " Maya's tattoos pulsed with light as she stared daggers at the symbol overhead. The drips from her left hand had merged into a thick stream. " _The Order of the Impending Storm._ "

She twisted around to look at Sarah. "You want these guys dead? Fine." She glared at the screen, the light on her arm growing brighter. "I'll do that for you. I'll kill them _all._ "

Axton looked around at the dome uneasily. A purple light had begun to encircle the ship. "Maya...?"

"I'll kill them _now._ "

* * *

Maya looked around the area in satisfaction. "And I _did._ " She grinned, a crazed expression loaded with a blood-lust that Zero had never seen in her, even in their wildest Pandoran battles. "And I _reveled_ in it."

Zero did his best to conceal his misgivings. "Revelry aside, You're right about their back up." He motioned to the disabled warship. "We should secure this."

Maya nodded. "But not just the three of us." She looked up at the _Grinder,_ her tattoos beginning to glow blue _._ "Sarah, at the very least, would be... _irritated_ if we left her out." Her markings suddenly shifted from blue-white to orange-

A burst of purple light flared next to Maya. When it vanished, it left Axton, Krieg, and Sarah standing next to her.

Axton jerked and looked around wildly. "What the _hell?!_ "

Krieg thumped himself on the head a few times with his axe. "The vortex grabbed me by the guts and dragged me to the moon!"

:O "That was a _phasewalk._ " Zero stared in disbelief. "You can use _Lilith's_ powers? How did you _do_ that?"

"I'll explain later," Maya promised. "Right now, I believe there's some prisoners we have to rescue."

“We should still be careful,” Axton warned. “We can't be certain this is everyone from the crew.”

Maya smirked. “ _You_ can't.” She turned to look at the ship. “I can _feel_ the minds of everyone in that vessel right now. There's only a handful left, and they aren't enemies.”

? “ _Another_ new trick?” Zero asked warily.

“I think it's just an amplification of my Thoughtlock,” Maya said distantly. She closed her eyes and held her palm towards the cruiser. “They're deep inside the ship, mostly together. They're conscious, I think.” Her eyes opened. “And they're _terrified._ ”

“Then let's alleviate their fear,” Sarah said firmly. “This sense of them that you have, can it guide you to them?”

Maya nodded. “Easily.”

“Then you're with me.” She turned to the others. “Axton, Zero, Krieg, I want you three to go over this ship deck by deck. Check for anything that might be a threat. I don't want those reinforcements pulling any surprises by remote.”

Maya gave her an annoyed look. “I just said-”

“There's no soldiers left, I know,” Sarah interrupted, “but what about security systems, or automated combat units? Are you one hundred percent certain you can detect those as easily as people?”

A sour expression flashed over Maya's face. “Nearly.”

Sarah shook her head. “Not good enough. We go old school and do a by-the-book search.”

Maya shrugged. “Fine. Your mission.”

“Yes.” Sarah pointed at Cassidy. “You head back to your ship. I need detailed scans of the cruiser's weapons, engines, shields, _everything._ I need to know if we're salvaging or stripping this thing.”

“Got it.”

“We'd better move fast,” Axton said. “Their reinforcements will be on the way by now. Don't wanna get caught with our pants down, right?”  
Zero nodded. “There is a hull breach On the port aft corridor. We can start from there.”

“Then we're splitting up here,” Maya said. “The people I sense are in the starboard forward section.”

Sarah looked at Zero. “Any hull breaches in that section?”

“Doesn't matter.” Maya grinned. “If there aren't now, there's _about_ to be.”

* * *

[One person's bad day is another prisoner's liberation, I guess.] 

 

[Thanks for reading!] 


	11. History repeats. Unless you don't let it.

"Here." Zero pulled his sword and led Axton and Krieg into the dimly lit hallway.

Axton looked around at the empty hallway, panning his rifle around. "Let's move back to that terminal you found. If we're gonna be clearing this place, I'd like to see a floorplan first."

Zero nodded and started towards the back of the ship, sword in one hand, pistol in the other. Axton came second, rifle at the ready, while Krieg's hulking form covered the rear. They quickly reached the computer terminal, and Zero began trying to access the ship's file. "Give me a moment."

"Sure." Axton was looking around at the fallen soldiers. "I think I can do that. You guys really went to town in here, huh?"

Zero shrugged and continued typing.

"What is that, like eleven dead guys? Not bad for the kid's first mission."

Krieg gave a chuckle that sounded like a bag of gravel being shaken. "The emperor's nightingale is a hawk!"

"She killed four of these soldiers," Zero corrected absently. "The others were mine."

Axton smiled darkly. "Not quite as badass as Maya's work outside, but I guess _that_ overshadows all of us."

:| "Hm."

"Maybe we _should_ let her go after the base," Axton mused. "Her powers didn't fail her here, after all. If she can do there what she did here-"

" _No_." Zero stopped typing and whirled around. "Bad decision."

Axton frowned as he met Zero's gaze. "What are you talkin' about? I saw the aftermath, Maya kicked all _kinds_ of ass out there."

"And she used _Lilith's_ powers," Zero pointed out. "Most atypical."

Axton scoffed and looked at Krieg. "Can you believe this guy? Maya gets a few new tricks and he starts freakin' out."

Krieg gave an uncertain growl. "A meat train becomes a poop train with the wrong conductor."

Axton stared at him, baffled. "What, you _too?_ " He spread his arms. "Guys, this is a _good_ thing. It'll let us take out some old enemies of Maya's, _and_ put the kibosh on whatever they're doing here! Sarah and Maya _both_ win."

"It wasn't Maya."

Axton and Krieg both turned to Zero. "Solve your own riddle," Krieg demanded fiercely. "Who was it killing Mr. Boddy in the library with the face-rip?"

  
"There was something else," Zero said. "Something behind Maya's eyes, Driving her to kill." He shook his head. >:| "No, more than just kill. Those men were flat-out destroyed. _Annihilated_."

  
"So what?" Axton asked, frowning. "It's not like we haven't done horrible, bloody things to enemies before. Besides, this is the Order of the Impending Storm. By her own words, they stole Maya's _life._ " He shrugged. "Seems to me she had every reason to 'annihilate' them."

  
Zero shook his head. "Consider Sophis."

  
"The monk she killed? What about him?"

  
"He lied to her all her life, And what did she do?" He held up a finger. "A single headshot, Her answer to a lifetime Of control and lies."

"I'm not getting it."

Zero gave an exasperated sigh. "If _Sophis_ only Warranted one bullet _then,_ Why so vicious _now?_ "

"I don't know, she's had time to stew," Axton retorted, shrugging. "It sounds like she _under_ reacted then, not overreacted _now._ "  
"Maya is _different_ ," Zero insisted. "She has been since arriving." He shook his head. "We never asked why."  
Krieg's eye widened. "The twinkie!"

Axton blinked. "You wanna explain that one?"

"The beach ball is the biggest twinkie we've ever seen!" Krieg snarled. "The taste is driving the blue one cuckoo for meatballs!"

Axton blinked a few more times and turned to Zero. "I got nothin'. You?"

Krieg growled in frustration and slapped his ECHO. "Lightface! Is your tin can on the string?"

[I'm here,] Cassidy's voice replied. [How can I help?]

"I need the x-ray of the marble!" he growled. "Drop it in the mail!"

[Marble x-ray... is it this sensor scan?] The image of the planetary Vault symbol flashed out of Krieg's ECHO and hung in the air, revolving slowly.

Axton stared at the symbol. "What... what exactly am I seeing?"

"An answer, perhaps," Zero mused. "Did Maya discover this And confide in you?"

Krieg nodded. "The movies played behind her eyes, and the theater of the mind drew its curtain!"

" _What?_ "

[He's describing a dream,] Cassidy said. [Maya made the scan, apparently after seeing the symbol while sleeping.]

"We've always assumed The Sirens and Vaults are linked," Zero pointed out. "And she _was_ drawn here."

"So _what?_ " Axton demanded. "So there's a Vault symbol made of mountains. So Maya went a little crazy with new power. That power helped her _shred_ an old enemy, and there's no evidence that a pattern in a chunk of rocks had anything to do with it!"

"Her actions-"

"Make perfect sense to me!" Axton said resolutely. "It's revenge, pure and simple. She got pissed and killed people she had a grudge against, and that's _it_."

"She used a _Phasewalk_ ," Zero insisted. "It shouldn't be possible For her to do that!"

Axton tossed up his hands. "Okay, then let's assume you're right. Let's assume that this Vault symbol is giving Maya crazy extra power, expanding her abilities, and making her go a _little_ off the deep end when she fights." He folded his arms and glared at both Zero and Krieg. "What do you want to do about it?"

Silence hung heavy around them.

"'Cause from where I stand, there's only two options," Axton finally said. "Either we all push through this thing and try to find the answers along the way, or you guys drag Maya back to the _Pearl_ and fly as far away from this planet as you can."

? "'You guys?'" Zero repeated.

"I'm not leaving Sarah," Axton said flatly. "She's got a mission here, and she won't leave until it's done. She don't leave, _I_ don't leave." He smiled tightly. "And I can't imagine Maya is willing to be dragged away from this planet, either. You try it and she'd probably smear you across the walls."

Zero and Krieg glanced at each other. "Running is no choice," Zero said. "We _will_ solve this mystery. But you've missed something."

"Oh, really?"

"You can't find the knives for the butcher shop," Krieg rumbled impatiently. "If the blue one would pâté her meat buddies, what would a rabid kitten do to a new dog?"

Axton frowned as he tried to puzzle through Krieg's statement... and his look shifted into uncertain horror. "You don't really think-"

Zero shrugged. "Not sure _what_ to think. The rules are out the window." :| "What do _you_ believe?"

"I _believe_ you two are assholes for putting that in my head," Axton growled. He glanced towards the front of the ship, then back at Zero. "No. Maya wouldn't hurt Sarah, not after she saved her life the way she did. Maya's _not_ as out of control as you say." He pointed to the computer. "Get back on that floorplan. We do our sweep and meet up after, just like we planned."

"Have it your way, then." Zero turned back to the terminal and resumed his typing.

Axton's finger ran over his ECHO as he battled with an urge to call Sarah. "But maybe we go ahead and double-time it."

* * *

Maya waited until Zero had led Krieg and Axton out of sight around the ship before she said anything. "You're dying to ask me about the Order."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sarah twitch slightly. "Is that you reading my face or my mind?"

"Neither." Maya turned and tried to give Sarah a reassuring look. "The mind-reading thing is new to me, but even if it wasn't, I wouldn't do it to a friend." She shrugged. "Assuming that's what we are, anyway."

"You _did_ go into my mind to save my life. 'Friend' works." Sarah's shoulders relaxed slightly. "What gave me away?"

"It's pure logic. I was raised by the Order. I know their philosophy, and I know their homeworld. To the right military strategists, that's enough to at least start formulating a battle strategy."

"It's more than that." Sarah's face was tightly controlled, but her voice betrayed her eagerness. "It's a chance to sever the serpent's head. However many worlds they've taken, their homeworld is where they started from. They can't _help_ but have the lion's share of their command structure there." Her hands were tight on her gun. "If you can give me coordinates, or even the planet's _name-_ "

"Athenas. I'll give you the coordinates once we're back on the ship." Maya took a second to enjoy the startled look on Sarah's face. "Thought I'd argue more than that? Maybe angle for money or something?"

"Ah..." Sarah tried to regain her balance. "Well... friends or not, you _are_ a mercenary." She actually looked slightly embarrassed. "It's what I've come to expect."

Maya shook her head. "I'm not a mercenary, I'm a Vault Hunter. I just take merc jobs when I'm not Hunting." Her eyes narrowed. "And I have a very personal stake against the Order." She motioned to the far side of the ship. "We should get moving. I can tell you everything about the Order once we've freed their prisoners."

Sarah nodded and followed, walking slightly behind Maya. "I remember. You said they'd stolen your life."

"They spent twenty-seven years training me to be their own personal weapon," Maya said bitterly. "Their goal was to use me and my powers to keep Athenas' population under their thumb, get me to be their super-powered attack dog." She started to clench her hand, then forced herself to open her fingers. Her palm was still painful and sticky from before. "I found out, killed the man who ran the Order, then left for Pandora."

"A shame you stopped at one," Sarah said darkly. "Killing a few more might have prevented the war I'm fighting now."

"I underestimated them." Maya pulled her SMG, more to give her hands something to grip than feeling like she needed it. "I thought the people would overthrow them without me around. I never expected their military would take over."

"Would you have done if you _had_ known?"

Sarah's question halted Maya in her tracks. "What?"

"If you'd known, back then, that the Order would endure after you left." Sarah looked Maya straight in the eye. "Would you have done your best to completely destroy them?"

"I...don't know." Maya rubbed her temple with her left hand. "Sophis was the head of the Order. He was the one that always dealt directly with me, that made the decisions about what I learned and when." Her jaw tightened. "The one who was always manipulative and condescending, the one-"

"Okay." Sarah held up a hand. "I get it. You hated _him_ , not the Order. I withdraw the question."

"Yes." Maya looked around the landscape. "I... hated _him_." Several fires from her battle were still burning, with the dead laying where they'd fallen. "So why..."

"Which way to the prisoners?"

Maya blinked and inhaled sharply. "Right. The prisoners." She pushed her questions aside, trying to focus on the chaotic mass of fearful whispers that were echoing in her mind. "I think... this way." She started for the starboard side of the ship, keeping her pace slow and even.

Sarah cast an eye over the battlefield as they walked. "Impressive work out here, by the way. Those damn heavy suits of theirs usually take four commandos to put down." Sarah shook her head. "I have to admit, you Sirens are something else."

Maya smiled proudly as she neared the cruiser. "First time seeing one of us in action?"

"There's only supposed to be six of you in the universe," Sarah pointed out. "I didn't expect to ever get the chance."

"Then I suppose I'll have to make certain I'm memorable." Maya stopped and laid her hand on a section of the ship's hull. "We can go in here." She focused her mind on the metal, picturing a bright green color spreading over it-

The metal hissed and melted under her fingers. Red light streamed from inside the ship as a new hull breach formed, the solid wall dripping away. The liquid material sloshed to the ground, re-solidifying in a circle around the two women.

Sarah glanced between the new hole and the metal slag coating the ground. "Trust me, if you're one thing, it's memorable."

"Glad to hear it." Maya stuck her head into the room and ran a quick eye over its contents. "I think I melted into an unused storage bay. There's nothing in here except some containers along the wall."

"Good." Sarah started past Maya into the hold, assault rifle up. "A low security area with easy access to the rest of the ship. Excellent place to start." She motioned to a door across the room. "Let's go." She started forward. "How far are we from the prisoners?"

"Not far." They crossed the room unhindered, and Maya pressed a green button on the wall. The doors slid open, showing an empty hall illuminated by the same dim red lighting. She closed her eyes, trying to get a direction from the subtle pressure in her mind. "I think... that way."

Sarah followed her into the corridor. "Can you tell how many there are?"

Maya shook her head. "I can sense roughly where they are and that they're afraid. That's about all." She halted suddenly. "Oh, fan _tas_ tic."

The hall had split into two pathways leading on opposite directions. "What's wrong?" Sarah asked. "Did you lose them?"

"No, but we're too close for me to get any directionality," Maya said, frustrated. "It's like looking at a picture when your face is pressed against it. All you see is paint."

"Then let's try something simpler." Sarah motioned to the left hall. "That way."

Maya started forward again. "Any particular reason?"

"Personal superstition. If there's no clear choice, I go left to find the right path."

She had to laugh. "That works?"

"More often than it should."

Maya's amusement lasted another hundred yards. As they rounded a corner, she felt a sudden upsurge of the pressure in her mind. "We're here."

Sarah came up beside her and stared at the massive, heavy black metal doors at the corridor's end. "I believe it. Those doors look strong enough to..." she trailed off as she caught sight of Maya's expression. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Everything." Maya's eyes were wet, her face rigid with fury, fingers clamped around her SMG's grip. "I can feel them. They're afraid, they're angry, they're sad... they want vengeance, they want freedom, they just want to go _home._ " She leaned against the wall, pressing her left hand to her temple again. "I've never felt _anything_ like this."

Sarah frowned slightly. "If you need to head back to your ship-"

"No!" Maya shook her head and straightened up. "I can block most of it. I didn't come this far just to turn away now. Let's get these people out of here."

Sarah watched her carefully for a few seconds more, then nodded. "All right. It's your call." She turned back to the massive doors with a heavy sigh. "Although that might be easier said than done, from the look of _these_. The crew must have been dead set on keeping their prisoners contained."

"Not dead set enough." Maya was examining a small keypad on the right side of the doors. "I think I can unlock this."

"Your power can unlock doors, too?"

"Any other day, I'd say no. Today?" Maya laid her hand against the keys. "Just maybe." Maya ran her fingers over the lock's buttons, tracing the cool metal. She tried to focus entirely on the physical sensation- the mental clamoring on the other side of the door was chaotic, battering at the edge of her thoughts, distracting her thoughts as she probed the lock.

Maya redoubled her efforts, trying to ignore the chorus of not-voices, sharpening her focus on the glowing buttons under her fingers. As she concentrated, she almost thought she could hear the electricity within the box, a constant, steady rhythm of waves. It was like seeing one point of light in a sky full of stars.

And suddenly, Maya knew what she had to do.

She couldn't sit down, but she did close her eyes. The galaxy flashed into her mind's eye, brilliant and blazing with stars- her thoughts. Maya concentrated, and suddenly the mental whispers from the prisoners filled the sky as shooting stars. For the waves in the keypad, she imagined the ocean crashing around her, the sound so vivid she could feel the water wash around her feet.

With the mental landscape complete, Maya turned her attention to the sky. She watched the falling stars blink across the black sky, lights flashing and gone again in an instant.

With almost no effort, she began to blank them out.

When the last of the falling lights vanished, she focused on the sound and feel of the waves around her, their pattern of constant rise and fall. As she listened, Maya realized she could change their sound and timing, and shifted the pattern to something she instinctively _knew_ was what she wanted-

The red lights on the lock turned green.

Sarah glanced at her watch. "Ten seconds. You _are_ good."

Maya inhaled deeply, clearing the cobwebs from her mind. "I knew another Siren that could manipulate electronics, I just hadn't tried it myself. This seemed like the right time to see if I could." She laid her thumb on the release button. "Ready for me to open this?"

"One second." Sarah took a position opposite Maya's on the left side of the doors. "Just in case anyone in there wants to try charging the next person they see." She nodded. "Open it."

Maya pressed the button.

The doors sprang apart with a violent _clang_. The mechanical sound was followed by several very human curses, a chorus fearful shrieks and handful of pained whimpers-

"It's alright!" Sarah shouted. "We're not your captors! We're here to help!" Maya saw her fingers flex on her rifle's grip- "Are there any Dahl soldiers in your group?"

Total silence from the room. It seemed like every person in there was suddenly holding their breath, and Maya could feel the pressure in her mind change the tiniest bit, as if a glimmer of candlelight dared shine in a pitch-black cave.

"You're Dahl?" A female voice finally called out. The hope and pain in the question tore at Maya's heart. "This isn't a trick?"

"No trick," Sarah promised. "You want the truth, soldier? The most _basic_ truth?"

Maya frowned in confusion, but Sarah just gave her a wink.

The woman inside apparently understood. "We all know the _basic_ truth."

Sarah took a deep breath. "Commandos! _Who's like us?!_ "

The voices came back loud, strong, proud, and a little disbelieving. " _Damn few!_ "

" _And they're all dead!_ " Sarah noticed Maya's confused look and gave her a tight, satisfied smile. "It's an old Dahl code phrase, only supposed to be used in extreme situations."

"Ah."

Sarah stepped out of cover, into the middle of the door. "Like I said, we're here to..." her voice faltered, and the satisfied look was snuffed out. "My _god._ "

The surge of horror and fury that suddenly pulsed out from Sarah was strong enough to drown out the voices in Maya's mind. She clenched her teeth. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

Sarah shook her head. "Next time we encounter these Order bastards, do me a favor." She looked at Maya, and the wave of hatred that washed out from the lifelong, professional soldier almost staggered her. "Save some of them for _me_."

Maya braced herself and stepped next to Sarah.

Her first, confused impression was a crowded hallway. Dozens of people were pressed together, shoulder to shoulder, most with their wrists against the floor, a few with their hands clasped over their heads. In the dim red light, it took Maya a few seconds to realize they were all shackled and chained, either to the floor or walls.

Then she looked closely at the prisoners themselves. Countless terrified eyes stared up at her from filthy, bruised faces. Their clothing was a motley collection of stained rags, and every cringe and wince spoke volumes of what they had endured.

Maya's grip on her SMG couldn't protect her left hand anymore. The fore-grip had grown slick under her fingers. "I don't think I can promise that."

"Then make it _hurt._ " Sarah keyed her ECHO. "Axton, come in."

[I'm here, Sarah.] His response was almost instantaneous. [Is there a problem?]

Sarah's eyes passed over the room and it shackled inhabitants. "Yes. Track to my location as fast as you can. I'm going to need your group's help down here."

[What is it? What's wrong?]

"Just hurry." She clicked off. "Maya, check that keypad. See if there's a way to unlock those cuffs."

"There's no remote way," a voice interrupted. Maya recognized it as the one that had challenged Sarah. "They always used a digital key to unlock us."

Sarah cursed. "That means we'll need to cut through all these chains. We might not have that much time."

"No." Maya's eyes narrowed, icy determination cooling her fury. "These people get released _now._ " Without even thinking, she raised her left arm and waved it across the room. Her tattoos pulsed white, overriding the red light in the cramped cell-

The prisoner's shackles clattered open simultaneously.

Sarah spared Maya an impressed look as gasps of relief echoed around the room. "Another good trick."

"I know _we_ appreciate it, ma'am."

Maya and Sarah both turned towards the voice. Maya saw a young woman standing unsteadily and rubbing her shoulders. "She's the 'ma'am' around here," Maya said dryly. "I'm just the hired gun."

The thinnest ghost of a smile crossed the dark haired woman's face. "Professional courtesy, ma'am." She started walking awkwardly towards them through the mass of huddled people. Some did their best to move aside. Some couldn't. Those she picked her way around as delicately as possible. "It's still appreciated, whatever your title."

As she got closer, Maya could see she wasn't even a young woman- she looked barely as old as Gaige. If that. "Who are you?"

The girl snapped off a slightly rusty salute. "Lance Corporal Zyri, ma'am. Damn glad to see you, if I may be so bold."

Sarah returned the salute. "At ease, corp-" Her gaze flicked up to the insignia over the girl's eye. "My god. You're from _Theseus_."

"Yes, ma'am. Taken shortly after the occupation started." Her face clouded over. "I've been on this ship ever since."

Sarah's eyes circled the room again. "Are _you_ the highest ranked soldier here?"

"At present, ma'am. There were two sergeants and a captain, but they... we haven't seen them for a while." The girl's blue eyes were haunted.

"All right, I'll get a full report from you later. Now sit down before you fall down."

A look of gratitude flickered across the girl's face. "Yes, ma'am."

Sarah turned away, motioning to Maya. "Do you notice anything about these prisoners?" she asked quietly.

"You mean did I notice that they're all malnourished and suffering various degrees of injury?" Maya asked darkly. "Or that they're all female?"

Sarah nodded, her own expression equally grim. "It's that last one that concerns me. Historically, there's only a few reasons armies take female prisoners."

Maya looked discretely at the newly freed women, listening to the rustle of their thoughts, feeling the texture of their emotions. "No," she finally said. "Whatever the Order is doing... it's worse than that."

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "You sound remarkably certain."

"I am. And don't ask why," Maya added wearily as Sarah opened her mouth. "I just _know_ there's more than simple human trafficking and slavery going on here.

Sarah closed her mouth again. "Okay." She glanced over her shoulder. "Where the hell is Axton?"

Maya was about to suggest ECHOing him, but a small, hesitant tug on her right hand drew her attention from Sarah. She looked over... and then down.

Wide green eyes stared up at her, peering hopefully out of a tiny face. "Are you gonna get my sisters for me?"

Maya shot Sarah an uneasy look before kneeling down next to the child. "What's your name, little one?"

"Jennifer." The girl put her thumb in her mouth. "Can you find my sisters?" she asked again, her voice plaintive around the digit.

"I..." Maya had never wanted to say yes so badly in her life. "I can try, sweetie. What are their names?"

Jennifer's brow wrinkled. "Umm..."

"Clarice, Judith, and Alice," Zyri supplied grimly. "Her sisters were- _are_ triplets. Dark hair, same green eyes as Jennifer." She held out her arms and the little girl crawled into her grasp, snuggling her head against Zyri's chest.

"They were here?" Sarah asked.

Zyri nodded. "Yes, ma'am. The last we saw of them was three days ago, I think." She wrapped her arms around Jennifer in a practiced, easy motion. "That was the second time they'd been taken."

Maya's mouth felt like sand. "Second?"

"They take you twice." The young soldier's tone grew darker still. "The first time is always to the medical bay, and they bring you back. The second time..." She shook her head.

Fire and ice battled in Maya's brain for control. Ice won out, although barely. "Where do they take you the second time?"

Zyri hesitated. "I'm not certain, ma'am. But some of the other girls thought they heard something about engineering."

"Then that's where I'll look," Maya promised fiercely. She stroked the little girl's hair with the her left hand. "If your sisters are here, I'll find them."

Jennifer smiled faintly, then her eyes widened. "Your hand's all bloody."

Maya held back a wince as she realized her palm was oozing again. "Don't worry about it. It just happens sometimes. Now sleep." Her tattoos pulsed gently, and Jennifer's eyes closed.

Zyri started. "What-"

"It's alright," Maya assured her. "By the time she wakes up, you'll all be on our ship."

"A ship?" Zyri's eyes were wide with uncertain hope, and many of the others captive's heads had turned at Maya's words. "You have a ship? Who _are_ you?"

Maya smiled wryly. "Complicated. Don't worry, we'll get you all to safety."

"Assuming Axton ever gets here," Sarah growled. She slapped her ECHO. "Axton! What's-"

"Couldn't find a working door," Axton's voice interrupted. "Zero and Krieg had to cut through four pressure doors to get us here."

Maya glanced down the hall to see her three friends hurrying towards them. "I'm just glad you made it."

He gave her a slightly over-enthusiastic smile and thumbs-up. "No problem at all, ol' buddy. What's the-" His footsteps slowed to a halt, grin vanishing as he saw huddled masses behind her. "Good _god._ "

"Here and now, I doubt it," Sarah said darkly. "You've got to get them to the _Pearl_ before the Order gets suspicious about why the the sudden radio silence from this ship."

"Consider it done," Axton promised, then frowned slightly. "Where are you gonna be?"

"There's three more women somewhere on board," Maya said quickly. "We're going to find them."

"So it's my job to get this group to safety." He nodded. "On it."

Zero was looking quickly at each person in the hold. "Many are injured, Some too diminished to walk," he reported. He sounded as furious as Maya had ever heard him. "This won't be easy."

"Call it a challenge," Axton bit out. "Get Cassie on the line and have her move the _Pearl_ as close as she can. The less distance these people need to travel, the better." He turned to Krieg. "Find us an exit, big fella. If you can't find a good hull breach, _make_ one."

Krieg snarled. "Rolling out the dozer again!" He sprinted back down the hallway, vanishing around the corner.

Axton glanced at the prisoners, exhaled once, then nodded to Sarah. "We've got this. Go find the last few." He paused. "Where are you going, anyway?"

"Engineering."

"Can you _find_ engineering?"

"Three decks aft, one up," Zero supplied. "I've uploaded the map to Your ECHO units." He looked over the hold again. "Good luck in your search."

"Thanks, Z." She motioned to the end of the hall. "Let's move."

Maya led the way, following Zero's map through the halls at a swift trot, driven by anger and the ticking clock. Sarah let about four corridors get between them and the cell block before she spoke. "Did the Order ever give any sign of this when you were with them?"

"Not that I ever saw." Maya's mouth twisted slightly. "Of course, I was also blind to their true goals for me my whole life."

"I don't think you just missed this," Sarah assured her. "They didn't launch a military campaign until a few months after you'd killed their civilian leader. It's reasonable to assume this slaving operation started roughly the same time."

"I guess we'll find out," Maya growled, checking her map. "And either way, we end it."

"We can end things _here,_ " Sarah agreed. "Stopping the Order in the rest of the six galaxies will take a lot more."

Maya frowned. Sarah's tone there... "What's that supposed to mean?"

She didn't get the chance to answer. Maya's ECHO _ping_ ed softly as they approached an intersection of corridors.

"We're here," Maya said quickly. "Engineering is right around that corner." They rounded the last bend-

And slid to a halt, staring at the area before them. "I think," Sarah finally said, "that I would have guessed that."

They had walked into a glassed-in control room overlooking a surprisingly large area. Beyond the windows, eerily familiar purple light glowed from transparent conduits around the room. The cables converged at a transparent sphere in the center of the room, a ball of purple-white glow.

"This is their version of engineering?" Sarah frowned at the room beyond the glass. "Strange."

"What is?"

"This configuration is like nothing I've ever seen." She pointed to the cabling on the walls. "Those look like power conduits, but I don't see anything that looks like an actual stardrive in there."

"You're kidding." Maya looked into the purple light. It was somehow attractive and repellant at the same time. "What about that glowing sphere? Could that be their mysterious teleport drive?"

"It must be," Sarah said reluctantly. "I don't see anything else in there." She stared at the room, lips pursed in thought for a few more seconds before dragging her eyes away. "Maybe Gaige can figure this out later. We've still got prisoners to find." She started examining one of the control consoles scattered around the room. "I'll see if I can do anything with this. Can you sense anyone in here? Like you did back at the prison hold?"

"Not yet, but we're only looking for three people this time," Maya pointed out. She held out her left hand and closed her eyes. "I might need to focus a little- _uh!_ " She staggered backwards, rocked by the sudden sensation lancing through her. Spots flashed behind her eyes-

Sarah's hands were suddenly on her shoulders, stabilizing her. "What happened?!"

"I... don't know," Maya said uncertainly. She was down on one knee with no memory of getting there, hand pressed to her forehead. "That... that was _nothing_ like before."

"What was it? The missing sisters?"

"I almost hope not." Maya took a breath, trying to quiet her mind. "There's _someone_ in there, but they're suffering incredible pain." She stared into the room, her stomach churning. "I don't know how anyone could survive what I just felt."

Sarah looked quickly into the room and started forward. "We're getting them out of there." She raised her rifle and fired a short burst, punching a neat line of holes in the glass. With a grunt of effort, Sarah kicked out the damaged window, sending glass shards flying everywhere. She took a few running steps and launched herself off the observation deck and into the the engine room. Her shields caught the impact from the ten-foot drop, and she rolled into a combat crouch, rifle leveled.

The room remained silent. No security systems triggered, no alarms sounded, no robotic sentries burst from the walls.

Sarah kept her eyes forward and waved her arm at Maya. "Come on!"

Maya jumped through the broken window, landing next to her. "You know there was probably an elevator somewhere, right?"

"Didn't feel like looking." She stood up but her weapon stayed at her shoulder. "Where to?"

Maya didn't even have to close her eyes this time. On this side of the glass, she could feel the waves of pain thudding against the edge of her mind. "This way." She started towards the center of the room and the sphere of light. "Does...unn..." she shook her head as the pain increased again. "Does that _look_ like a stardrive to you?"

"Not at all," Sarah said, giving her a worried look. "You're still feeling that pain?"

"Getting stronger with every step." Maya tried not to wince as another burst stabbed at her temple. "I'd almost swear it's coming from the sphere itself." Her eyes narrowed. "In fact... I'm _certain_ of it."

Sarah frowned. "How can that be? It's some kind of machine, how can it be radiating _pain?_ "

Maya stared into the sphere, squinting against the light... she almost thought she could see something within, dark shadows against the purple-

She inhaled sharply. " _That's not a machine._ "

Maya spun back towards the balcony overlooking the room, throwing out her left arm. Her tattoos flared white as she instinctively seized control of the programming running inside the control consoles. She felt the system bend to her will-

The power cables around the room dimmed as Maya reduced their flow. The light from the sphere began to fade, dropping the room into an ugly purple-red twilight.

"Maya, what's wrong?" Sarah's weapon was pointed at the booth, her eyes searching for dangers. "What are you doing?"

"It's not a machine," Maya bit out again. "It's a containment chamber, powered by eridium."

Sarah looked back at the fading light. "Eridium? The high-energy material Hyperion was selling?" She frowned at Maya. "The Order was using it to power their ship?"

"No." Maya to turned back to the darkened sphere. An icy hate flowed through her, muting the now-searing agony in her mind. "It was powering _them._ "

Sarah followed her gaze. Her hand flew to her mouth in horror at what she saw. " _God._ "

Three young women, barely out of their teens, were contained in the sphere. All three had dark hair and nearly identical features. Their eyes were closed, but Maya would have wagered anything they would all be the exact same shade of green. Their arms were encased in metal and tubing from the power cables, holding them suspended in a 'Y' position.

Fury thudded at Maya's temples. "I've seen something like this before." She was distantly surprised by how controlled her voice sounded. "This setup is a lot more primitive, but the Order doesn't have access to all Hyperion's resources."

"What... what the _hell_ am I _seeing?_ " Sarah demanded. "What _is_ this?!"

"Last time, it was a way to force power through a Siren." Maya ran her eyes over the unconscious girls. "It cost that one her life."

"They're _Sirens?_ "

_**No.** _

Maya looked at Sarah, frowning. "What?"

"I said, are you telling me those are Sirens?" Sarah repeated.

"I don't know." Maya started towards the sphere again. "And I don't care. I'm getting them out of that... _thing._ "

Sarah gave the girls a considering look, her soldier's demeanor beginning to reassert itself over her shock. "You said this setup killed the last Siren it was used on."

"Yes."

"Then how-"

Maya laid her hand on the transparent sphere. "I'm going to heal them the instant they're freed. If I can hit them with enough healing energy, I think I can offset the damage the eridium has inflicted."

_**That is not why you are here.** _

"The hell it isn't," Maya snapped. "I am _not_ going back and telling that little girl her sisters are dead."

"Not something I want, either," Sarah agreed, "but Axton told me your healing powers haven't increased the way your other powers have."

Maya stared at the triplets, focusing all her will on them. "Ever since we got here I've been doing things I never dreamed I could do. I _refuse_ to accept" her tattoos began to glow blue-white "that I can't use my healing powers to save three lives that _deserve_ to be saved!"

_**You are here to destroy my enemies.** _

"Still the plan," Maya ground out. Her markings increased in brightness, driving back the purple light. "The Order dies. After these girls _live!_ "

Maya felt a surge of heat race through her body. The tattoos on her arm pulsed and burned, her chest and leg seared like brands, and the dots beneath her left eye were pinpoints of fire.

_**You will do as you are commanded.** _

"I don't take orders!" Maya yelled. "I...will..."

A spiderweb of cracks appeared under her palm.

" _not_ "

Her eyes burned like fire was shooting from them.

"let...Angel...happen..."

Pressure built inside her body until she thought her skin would burst.

" _AGAIN! ! !_ "

A nova blast of light exploded from Maya's body, banishing the eridium glow and shattering the sphere. A second pulse blasted out, disintegrating the metal around the sister's arms. A third wave surrounded the girls in blue-white halos. They drifted gently to the floor, and the light faded.

Maya dropped to her knees, shivering as the heat and strength rushed out of her body. "C-check them," she said, her teeth chattering. "A-are they-"

"They're fine," Sarah assured her, feeling the neck or wrist of each sister. "Pulses strong, breathing steady." She slung her assault rifle and walked back to Maya, frowning. "I'm more worried about y-" She touched Maya's shoulder and flinched. "You're _freezing!_ "

"T-think...I.. m-might've... overexerted... mys-self," Maya admitted, shivering. She started to lay down on the floor, her eyes heavy. "Just... need a minute to... r-rest..."

" _No!_ " Arms wrapped around her shoulders, and she felt a warm body press against her back. "No, Maya! Stay awake!" A distant click echoed down to her ears. "Axton, come in!"

Maya wanted to tell Sarah not to worry... she was just going to take a short nap...

_**You will come to me.** _

The world went dark.

* * *

[I've got a few specific thank yous to pass around this time. Credit for the unique names in this chapter goes out to Yautja'sBloodedPet and Ryzi. Much appreciated you two, and everyone's definitely coming back for a lot more.]  


[Second, a very surprised thanks to the TVTropes user Jpuff for recommending Leaving Pandora on the fanfic recs section of BL2. I don't know exactly when you did it, but gracias, amigo.]

[And, as ever, my thanks to everyone that drops in for a quick perusal. I'll do my best to continue being a good read.] 


	12. The red menace

Axton wanted to watch Sarah until she was out of sight, but the eyes of dozens of Dahl POWs were burning holes in his conscience. "How is it, Z?" he asked. "How many people we lookin' at?"

"By-"

"There's fifty-three of us, sir. Ages from five to thirty."

Zero and Axton turned towards the voice. A teenaged girl stared back at them from the floor, a small child in her arms. "Who are you?"

"Um..." her expression faltered. "You... _did_ ask me for numbers, didn't you, sir?"

"Actually, I asked _him,_ " Axton said, jerking his head at Zero. "What was your name?"

The girl blushed. "Lance Corporal Zyri, sir."

"Ah." Amazingly enough, Axton felt a small grin creep onto his face. "So you get called Z too, huh?"

"Yes, sir."

Axton shrugged. "Well, _Zero,_ " he gave her another encouraging grin "is she right?"

Zero nodded. "Fifty-three people, In varying states of health." His voice was grim. "Most of them can't walk."

Axton's jaw tightened. "That'll make things tricky. How many can?"

"Perhaps a dozen."

"I'll lay odds that at least fifteen of us can walk on our own, sir," Zyri insisted. " _And_ help those that can't."

He gave her a long, appraising look. "You know who?"

She nodded quickly.

"Then you're in charge of getting them moving. Can you handle that, Lance Corporal?"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Excellent." Axton keyed up his ECHO. "Krieg, how we doin' on that hole?"

[I ripped through the metal womb to create the birthing chamber of freedom!]

"And thank you for _that_ mental image." He clicked off and turned back to the waiting, watchful faces. "All right, listen up!" he roared, trying to remember how he would have given orders like this before he'd gone on the run from Dahl. "We're here to help! If you can walk, follow my lanky friend to the exit! If you can help someone get there, do it! If you _can't_ , focus on getting yourself to safety." He took a breath and tried to keep his mind calm. "If you can't move at all, just hang on. Me and my friends will get you out of here as fast as we can."

"You heard 'im, soldiers!" Zyri barked. Her own voice was slightly cracked, but still carried a decent measure of authority. "Move out!"

A handful of the POWs pushed themselves up, unsteady but determined. Zero looked around the room quickly, then stepped over to one of the girls that hadn't moved and picked her up. "She is one of the weakest," he explained quickly. He jerked his head towards one of the others. "She is another."

"Got it, buddy." Axton scooped the girl into his arms. She was disturbingly light. "Come on, kid. Let's get you outta here."

"Thank...you..."

Axton glanced down, startled. He hadn't realized she was awake. "No problem." _Except the one_ I've _got with these Order bastards now._ He started towards Krieg's exit waypoint.  
He was halfway there when the big man came loping around the corner. "The puppy shelter is open for business!" he snarled. "Ready to round up the strays!"

"Most of 'em are still back in that cell," Axton told him, slowing a little. "A lot of 'em can't walk, so we've gotta help."

"I will pat him and stroke him and call him George!" Krieg increased his speed to a run, dashing past Axton.

"Just don't scare anyone!" Axton yelled, picking his pace up again. "We're here to help, not panic the poor kids!"

"Believe me, sir, he's a welcome sight."

Axton looked over his shoulder and saw Zyri following behind him, the little girl still in her arms. " _That's_ a first."

"Anyone _not_ in an enemy uniform is a welcome sight, sir," she offered dryly. "And frankly, he's a lot less scary that the idea of facing their doctors."

Axton grimaced. "Yeah, Krieg's not too big on doctors, either."

"Uh... where are we going, sir? Your ship?"

"Right now, I'm heading for an exit the big guy cut for us," he answered. "Assuming our pilot's ready, she'll have our ship waiting for us. Now that I think of it..." It wasn't easy to key his ECHO while carrying someone, but he managed it without jostling the girl too much. "Cassie, is the _Pearl_ in position yet?"

[I'm pulling a patrol with the _Pearl_ for any potential problems,] she responded. [The _Red Tail_ is ready to receive refugees.]

"The _Red Tail_?" Axton frowned. "Cassidy, if the Order gets any idea of what's going on here, they could be on us in minutes! We need to get these people aboard _now,_ we might not have time to shuttle back and forth!"

[The _Red Tail_ has carrying capacity for _all_ the captives,] she said testily. [Besides, it'd be better to board by exiting a shuttle into the hangar bay than have several scores of severely weakened survivors stagger up a ramp into the ship.]

There was some logic to it. "Alright, we'll make it work."

[Copy. I'm closing the comm line while I continue the patrol. Less likelihood of an enemy learning our location.] The line went silent.

_Let's see...seven in the cockpit, maybe ten in the med bay, as many as can fit in the hall, everyone else in the machine shop..._ "Gonna get crowded in there," he grumbled.

"We've been packed into that cell like sardines for weeks, sir," Zyri said resolutely. "We can handle a little more if it means our freedom."

Axton glanced back at the girl's stoic expression and couldn't help but be impressed. "So you're what Theseus is turnin' out these days, huh?"

"Wouldn't know, sir." Her face clouded over. "I didn't graduate. I was two weeks away when they invaded."

_Dammit._ "Well, kid, if it's any consolation, you'd have made one hell of a soldier."

"I still plan to, sir." The girl's voice held a ferocity Axton had come to recognize from a few other women in his life. "I never gave up on escaping."

"Always great to have a goal." He rounded another corner and felt a burst of relief as the ragged hole in the ship's hull came into view. "There's our exit."

Zero was out of the shuttle and halfway to the warship when Axton stepped into the sunlight. "Put her in sick bay," he shouted, not stopping as he darted past. "We can start healing the weak With the shuttle's gear."

"Got it!" Axton jerked his head at the _Red Tail._ "This way!"

Axton had a brief second to wonder how he was going to open the hatch with an armful of barely conscious teenager, but Zero had left it open for him. He ducked inside and saw the assassin had already put the first prisoner into the medical tube, the healing program well underway.

"You wait here, okay?" he said, settling the girl to the deck. "We're gonna get the rest of your friends out."

"O...k..."

Axton straightened up and shook his head. "Damn, what a mess." He turned as Zyri entered, looking around at the small room. "You'll be safe in here. Keep an eye on everyone." He started for the door-

"Sir, no, sir!"

He paused and looked back, halfway out of the hatch. "Huh?"

Zyri settled the child next to the other girl and looked into his face, eyes blazing with determination. "Too many people still back there for me to rest here, sir! I'll continue with the evacuation!"

Axton almost argued, then shrugged. "Can't deny we need the help. If you think you've got the strength, then come on." He started running back towards the ship.

"Aye aye, sir!" She was right on his heels.

Another of pair of the ragged prisoners were staggering out the hole in the hull, a twentyish woman half carrying a smaller girl. Axton waved them towards the _Red Tail's_ door and hurried down the corridor-

" _Road train!_ "

Axton flattened himself against the wall as Krieg barreled past. To Axton's disbelief, he had a person tucked under each arm, with a third clinging to his neck wearing a look of terrified exhilaration. "You maniac!" he yelled. "We're moving wounded people, not freakin' boxes! Take it easy!"

"Speed outweighs comfort!" Zero called, zipping past nearly as rapidly as Krieg. He had one girl in his arms, and, surprisingly, a second passenger hanging off his own shoulders.

Zyri gave Zero a curious look as he raced by. "Respectfully, sir, you've got a very odd crew."

"Wait 'til you meet the rest of us," Axton quipped. "Come on. Let's pick it up."

The next few minutes were a tense blur of hallways, exhausted faces, and incredible determination. Axton passed another half-dozen soldiers on their feet, all struggling along with one of their fellows, alternately helping and being helped by their weakened comrades. Closer to the cell were a handful of soldiers too exhausted to carry anyone, but still driving themselves to stagger forward, held up by sheer force of will as much as the bulkheads they leaned against.

As they neared the cell again, he felt compelled to ask something that had been burning in his mind. "Zyri, do you have any idea why the Order took you?"

She shook her head. "No, sir. All I know is that when they took Theseus, they did some kind of a scan on the females. If the scanner beeped, they pulled you out and threw you on a transport."

"You never heard anything about what they wanted you for?"

"Well..." she considered. "I think it has to do with something called the anthemusa project."

"The what now?"

Another head shake. "I don't know what it meant, but I'm certain I got it right. I saw it displayed on a computer terminal right before they stuffed me into a cell." Her fist clenched at her side. "I've had a lot of time to wonder about it."

"Huh." He shrugged. "Maybe we can search the database later." He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of footsteps to see Zero and Krieg approaching. "Or you never know, maybe Krieg here would-"

[Axton! Come in!]

He hit his ECHO. "I'm here, Sarah. What's-"

[Shut up and get down here! I've got three more wounded, and Maya's down!]

Axton looked sharply at Krieg. The big man's eye was wide behind his mask, his body suddenly tighter than an over-wound spring. "What do you mean, _down?_ "

[She did something with her powers, then collapsed and passed out!]

Axton's hand tightened on his ECHO. He knew that tone Sarah was using all too well. "One to ten, how bad is she?"

[Seven.]

"God _damn_ it." He motioned to Krieg. "You'd better get down there. She's gonna need muscle."

Krieg didn't say a word. He just burst into a flat-out sprint, barreling back down the hall.

Axton keyed his ECHO. "Help's on the way, Sarah. Just get 'em to safety on the _Pearl._ "

[Understood. I'll be ready.]

"I know you will." He clicked off and looked at Zero. "You go, too."

?! "But the prisoners-"

"I'll keep 'em moving," Axton cut him off. " _You_ need make sure Krieg doesn't just run in there, grab Maya, and run out again." He shoved Zero's shoulder. "Go!"

Zero hesitated another second, then raced after Krieg.

Axton exhaled sharply and wiped a hand over his face. "Last chance to go wait in the shuttle, kid. You come with me and you're workin' overtime until the rest of your comrades are in there."

She ripped off an unnecessary, but very enthusiastic salute. "Wouldn't have it any other way, sir!"

_Yeah, there's some steel in this one._ "Glad to hear it. Let's move."

Zero had always been the fastest of the Vault Hunters. His reaction time was lightning quick, and his groundspeed unequaled.

Right now, it was all he could do to keep up with Krieg. The massive Hunter barreled through the corridors, a freight train of muscle and fury. His entire existence seemed focused on the engine room and what Zero knew he feared discovering there.

"Get the magic eyes working!" he yelled at Zero. "Tell me it's not lupus, ECHOnet MD!"

Zero's medical scanner was already online. It was how he knew Krieg's heart was pumping triple its normal speed, that his system was overloaded with adrenaline, and that in this state, he could charge through a mountain without slowing down.

All Zero said was, "I'm not in range yet."

Krieg gave a snarl of rage and put on more speed. Zero did his best to match him. They rounded the next corner at breakneck speeds, and Zero saw that the hall dead-ended into an observation platform-

Zero reacted fast enough to leap through a shattered window, arcing down to the deck and coming up in a roll, barely losing any speed.

Krieg just cannonballed himself through the closest _intact_ one, landing on the floor below with the resounding _crash_.

"Over here!"

Zero was already sprinting towards the center of the room when Sarah's voice reached him. She was crouched on the deck, her white undershirt standing out vividly against the gunmetal gray of the room. Stretched across her lap, wrapped in Sarah's brown leather jacket, was Maya.

Krieg gave another snarl and started forward, but Zero's better landing allowed him to get there first. "No physical injuries," he said quickly, looking up and down Maya's body. "How did this happen?"

"It started right after she used her powers," Sarah explained just as rapidly. "She gave off this massive burst of energy, her body temperature plummeted, and she just _collapsed._ "

? ? ? "Her _powers_ caused this? After what she did outside?"  >:( "What is going _on?_ "

Sarah's arms tightened slightly on Maya's shoulders. "Will she live?"

"I'm not letting blue turn black!" Krieg roared. He towered over Sarah and thrust his arms out. "Give me liberty, or I'll give you death!"

Zero caught the hesitation in Sarah's eyes. "He cares for her most," he said hastily. Krieg was already looking twitchy, impatient to get moving. It was surprising he hadn't just ripped Maya out of Sarah's arms. "He'll get her back to the ship. Fear not for Maya."

He wasn't certain if it was his words or the low growl in Krieg's throat that convinced Sarah. Either way, she nodded and relinquished her hold on Maya. "Take care of her. She saved their lives."

Krieg growled some response, but Zero didn't truly hear it. His gaze had fallen on the three teens had Sarah had indicated. They were triplets, which was unusual in itself. But it was the strange pattern of bruising on the left side of their bodies that caught his full attention.

_No..._ Zero stepped over to the unconscious girls to get a better look. He made certain his suit's video recorders were running. _I'll have to compare These patterns to the others And see if they match._

Except he didn't. He knew exactly what he was looking at. The discolorations running up and down their bodies were injuries instead of tattoos, but the pattern itself was unmistakeable.

Siren markings.

A blare of alarms and flashing red lights shattered Zero's focus. Across the room, a roar of fury escaped Krieg as heavy blast shutters sealed the observation deck, cutting off the only exit from the engine room.

Sarah's rifle snapped up, eyes scanning for danger. "What is this? Automated defenses?"

[Not at all, my commando friend!] The electronically distorted voice boomed out from unseen speakers, echoing around them. [This is my trap!]

The alarms fell ominously silent. For a long second, total quiet filled the room.

_Beep._

In a far corner, a small green light lit up on a large, rectangular box.

_Beep._

A second box's light illuminated, a few yards from the first.

Zero drew his sword.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Krieg tucked Maya behind several large, heavy metal storage containers, pushing them around her until she was out of sight. Then he pulled his axe.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

Sarah's hand moved to her belt, then tossed something at the three sisters. Her Sabre turret flashed into existence, its energy shield shimmering around the unconscious girls.

_Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep. Beep._

The boxes exploded.

Zero lunged at the closest explosion, searching for a target in the thick haze of smoke that erupted into the air. There was a flash of movement to his left, and he swung at it with all his strength-

His sword _clanged_ to a halt, the shock of the sudden stop pulsing up into his shoulders. A red, heavily armored gauntlet gripped the blade.

[These are supposed to have pilots,] the voice said, [but I think they work even better as drones.]

Something slammed Zero's midsection with incredible force. The impact ripped his hands from his sword and threw him tumbling backwards. He managed to turn his skid into an awkward roll and landed in a crouch, staring towards whatever had hit him.

A massive, dark red figure, taller than even Krieg, stepped out of the smoke. The heavy, plate-mail look of its hand extended to the rest of its body, as if an ancient suit of armor had come to life. A yellow, V-shaped visor glowed out at Zero from a swept back helmet-like head. It glanced briefly at his sword, then tossed it aside. The weapon skittered across the deckplates... until it clattered against another red metal foot.

A second glowing visor appeared in the smoke, then a third, then fourth. In the blink of an eye, yellow optics glared out from every corner of the room.

:/ "Hm."

The red machines opened fire. Zero vanished and leapt into the air, pulling a bayoneted sniper rifle as his hologram was skewered by orange beams of energy. He returned fire in mid-air, his rounds striking with pinpoint accuracy into the visors of the closest three units.

His bullets didn't even scratch the yellow optics. Worse, every drone in the room shifted its aim towards him-

"You won't take my sunshine away!"

Krieg bodyslammed the closest drone with all his strength. The blow sent the drone flying into its closest fellows, throwing off could easily have been a killshot.

"I'll rip the clouds apart with my brain!" Krieg's axe smashed into the chest of another unit, shredding its armor and sending it reeling backwards.

[Not bad for an organic,] the voice mused. [Drones! Priority threat established! Concentrate attack on the big one!]

Half the drones in the room shifted their aim towards Krieg and started forward.

"You woke the wrong dog!" He swung his axe at the damaged unit's head-

This one didn't grab the axe blade. It grabbed Krieg's wrist and the metal gauntlet _squeezed-_

Zero heard the _crack_ of bone from three feet away, the bellow of pain, anger, and disbelief from Krieg. Zero hurtled forward and swung upward with all his strength, his curved bayonet whistling as it arced towards the drone's arm.

Man and machine stumbled apart from each other, the unit's hand still latched to Krieg's wrist. He gave another animalistic howl, seized his axe to his left hand and _lunged_ -

There was no time for Zero to watch what happened next. The drones that _hadn't_ advanced on Krieg opened fire again, their weaponry burning paths of light and heat through the air. Zero rolled clear of the fire and cloaked again, striking from behind while his doppelganger distracted from the front. In some distant part of his mind, he heard the unmistakeable sound of a Sabre turret firing in concert with an assault rifle and realized Sarah had come under attack as well.

But he had no chance to help her. A lucky shot from a drone slapped the sniper rifle, hurling it out of grasp and into the confusion. Zero reappeared whirled at his attacker, a bladed pistol flashing into his hand as he spun. His weapon's knife did what his bullets had failed to, and he buried the weapon in the attacking drone's faceplate. He leapt onto its shoulders and pulled the trigger as fast as he could, pumping a volley of explosive rounds into the drone's body. The machine staggered and sparked, smoke and fire blasting out from its joints. Zero jumped clear as the unit began to fall-

His shields flickered as another burst of energy grazed his side.

He twisted in midair and instinctively flicked several kunai in the direction of the beam. The daggers impacted across a trio of drones' faceplates. Zero _thudded_ to the deck just as the daggers exploded, blinding the units, and lunged forward, arm cocked and ready-

A laser blast broadsided him, throwing Zero across the room and ripping the pistol from his grasp. He crashed to the floor again and whipped his head up, trying to ignore the pain in his side and chest, searching for the source of the shot.

A fourth drone had joined the blinded trio, its weapon trained perfectly on Zero. Its visor flashed, and the other three drones instantly, unerringly turned to target him. Their weapon barrels began to glow-

A small metal object dropped out of the air, practically in Zero's lap. With a _whir_ of gears, a double-barreled weapon flashed into existence, and with it, a transparent energy shield-

Sarah's second turret opened fire at the same time as the drones, its own gunfire wildly outclassed by the incoming volley of laserfire. Even so, its shields held long enough to give Zero a chance.

He dodged to the drones' left while his hologram remained to cower behind Sarah's gun, affecting injury. Zero sprinted forward, a bladed SMG materializing into his grip. He plunged the weapon's prongs into the closest drone's head and swung himself into a full-bodied kick, slamming both feet into a second unit's head. The stylized helmet flew off its shoulders, and the pair of units collapsed into non-functioning heaps.

Zero cloaked again before the two surviving machines realized what had happened, but this time, he didn't jump clear. Instead, he seized the closer drone's weapon and slammed it into its partner's chest. Before either one could react, he stabbed an electrical grenade against the first drone's back.

_Then_ he leapt clear.

The drone's body seized as a power surge cascaded through its systems. Its hand tightened reflexively on the weapon, crushing down on the laser's power pack-

The explosion vaporized both units from the waist up.

_Laser weapons are Such volatile devices._ Zero's hand closed around his saber. _And uncivilized._

Zero counted six units destroyed, but the surviving drones were undeterred by their fellow's destruction. Three were advancing on Sarah, weapons charged and ready. Zero prepared to attack the closest one-

_? ! ?_

The drone had Sarah directly in its crosshairs, but didn't fire. To Zero's increasing astonishment, it turned _away_ from her.

Sarah didn't waste the chance. She poured assault rifle fire into the drone, armor piercing rounds shredding the heavy metal armor, chewing a matched set of ragged holes into its back and chest. The machine collapsed into a sparking pile. Sarah dropped her rifle's empty clip and pulled another, reloading faster than Zero had ever seen a human move.

It wasn't fast enough. The two other drones already had her in their sights, weapons charging... and again, they hesitated.

Zero's sword slashed down, then up.

Two intact drones fell into four neat, vertically sliced half-drones.

_Eleven to go._ Zero spun around.

The remaining drones were clustered around the 'highest priority threat'. Zero had wondered, perhaps egotistically, if Krieg actually deserved the title. Looking at the hellish mayhem surrounding him, it was clearly well earned.

Fighting with his off hand and a broken arm, Krieg had still managed to dismember, behead, or otherwise destroy eight of the eleven attackers. His wild laughter resounded across the engine room as he buried his axe in yet another machine's crimson skull.

One of the two standing drones slammed Krieg in the face with his rifle butt, dropping him to the ground. The crack of metal against the thin shell of his mask galvanized Zero into action, sprinting across the room at top speed, but the drones were already taking aim on the fallen Hunter-

An inhuman roar ripped its way out of Krieg's chest as his body warped and twisted into a gigantic, misshapen version of itself. His right arm _snapped_ back together, and Krieg lashed out with the fully healed limb. His massive paw shattered through the armor of the closest drone, its optics going dark as its power failed.  
The final drone got off a brief, useless shot before Krieg bludgeoned it to smoking scrap with its own ally.

Zero skidded to a halt, staring at the pile of destroyed machines. :O "'Priority threat' indeed. Most impressive work."

Krieg started to say something-

The cruiser gave an intense shudder, as if an earthquake had just rippled through the hull. A muffled roar crashed through the air around them, painfully loud but mercifully brief. As the ringing in his helmet faded, Zero realized Axton's voice was coming through his ECHO.

[-yone! Come on, someone say _something!_ ]

Zero keyed his ECHO, startled. "We are here, Axton."

[About damn _time!_ I've been tryin' to reach you guys for the last ten minutes!]

"We were otherwise engaged," Zero said dryly. "Did you hear that noise?"

[What, you mean the friggin' escape pod that just blasted out the side of the ship?] he demanded sarcastically. [No, I missed it completely!]

" _Escape pod?_ " Sarah keyed in her own ECHO. "Did you just say someone just got away in an escape pod?"

['Fraid so.] Axton's tone was furious. [Sorry, honey, they got the drop on us. Whoever they were, they waited until Cassie was piloting in the _Red Tail_ by remote. She couldn't just drop the shuttle to go after 'em, not with all the wounded on board, and by the time she could've chased after 'em-]

"Let me guess," she interrupted. "They'd already gotten off a distress call."

[Yeah. Which means we're gonna have Order bastards breathing down our neck any time now.]

"Explains the drones," Zero said grimly. "Containing us in battle Cleared the escape route."

[What? What that about drones?]

"Not important," Sarah said. "We're heading your way. Have your pilot keep a close watch for any incoming ships."

[She already is. See you soon.]

"Right." The ECHO fell silent. "Damn, damn, _damn._ I _never_ should've called you three back from your deck-by-deck search."

"Eyes in the back of your head don't let you see what's coming," Krieg snarled. "Time to rip down one wall and put up a telescope!"

"Look forward instead of back, huh?" Sarah asked. "All right. Then let's start looking forward to getting out of here and giving these bastards some payback." She glared at the heaps of armor strewn around the cargo hold. "Particularly the little son of a bitch that pulled _this_ one on us."

>:) " _I_ already am."

* * *

[Headcanon: the Dahl forces are the cultural descendants of Earth's Marine corps. This means recruits call everyone higher ranking than them "sir" or "ma'am", regardless of rank.]  


[Next week's chapter may be on Sunday instead of Saturday, due to edits. Thanks for reading!]


	13. Too quiet

Axton stood with one foot on the long ramp leading up to the _Pearl's_ airlock, the other on the battle-torn ground, and one watchful eye on the horizon. It was useless as a practical exercise, of course- Cassidy, sitting in her command chair on the bridge, would have far more warning from the ship's sensors than his eyes could ever give.

But at least it was better than staring endlessly at the ragged hole Krieg had carved into the side of the warship, trying to ignore the nagging sensation that something _else_ unexpected had happened, that Sarah hadn't been able to call before being struck down by-

To his infinite relief, the pounding of footsteps over metal deckplates reached Axton's ears. He forced himself to keep looking in the other direction for another few seconds, just to make certain his mind wasn't playing tricks on him again.

No tricks. He turned and saw three people carrying four passengers, running towards him as fast as they could while burdened by their unconscious riders. Axton's stomach ratcheted another notch at Maya's pale, motionless form in Krieg's grasp. "Come on!" He waved his arm at the ramp. "Get 'em in here, now!"

Zero was the first up the ramp, racing past Axton, then Krieg and his double load of passengers at his heels with Sarah covering the rear. Axton checked the horizon once more, then headed up after her. "How's Maya?"

"Alive," she answered curtly. "Beyond that, even Zero couldn't tell. What about the soldiers we pulled out?"

"Still offloading from the _Red Tail,_ " Axton said. He finished climbing the ramp into the airlock, and the door slid shut behind him. "The stronger ones are helping the weakest get to the medical bay for general check-up and any immediate treatment they need."

The inner airlock door cycled open. "Results so far?" Sarah asked, following Krieg and Zero out into the corridor.

"Nothing you'll enjoy reading, but no one's gonna die, either," Axton said. He looked at the girls being carried along. "Actually, I think Maya and these three are the worst off. What _happened_ down there?"

"I don't _know_ ," Sarah said testily. "Siren magic isn't my area of expertise. She just said something about not letting an angel happen, then explo- oof!"

Her statement cut off as she walked right into Krieg's back. The masked man had halted mid-stride. "The caged canary?" He turned quickly to face Sarah. "She said the ensnared rabbit?"

Sarah looked around in confusion. All three Hunters had screeched to dead stop, each wearing their version of a disbelieving expression. "I don't get it. What do angels matter to you all?"

"Not angels," Axton corrected hazily. " _Angel._ She was a Siren on Pandora. One we... couldn't save."

Light dawned in Sarah's eyes. " _She_ was the Siren strapped into some kind of eridium fuel system." She glanced at Axton. "Maya said it killed her."

"I don't know all the mechanics behind it, but yeah," Axton said grimly. "She... she begged us to cut her off from it. When we did... she died."

"She had been enslaved By the greed of her father," Zero said. "Only freed in death."

"And Maya couldn't save her," Sarah finished.

"Never got the chance to try," Axton said, staring at his unconscious friend. "She died the second we shut down the eridium flow." He turned his gaze on the other three girls. "Were _they_ strapped into an eridium system, too?"

"Maya seemed to think so." Sarah shifted the girl on her shoulders. "Come on. We can discuss this after these four are in your sickbay."

Zero nodded. "It's just over here."

A handful of the freed prisoners were scattered around the medical bay when Zero opened the door, but there were still nearly a dozen empty healing beds. Axton managed to muddle through the start-up process while the others laid out their passengers. "First scans say their vitals all look okay," he read off the screen. "Computer doesn't have an estimate on healing time, though."

"Then we should turn our focus To the next matter," Zero said. "To the escape pod And the Order's intentions For this fallen ship."

"Cassie's on the bridge tracking the pod and keeping an eye out for any other ships," Axton said. "So far, we're still clear."

"That can't last," Sarah growled. "Let's get up there. I want to see what she's found." She put a hand on Krieg's arm. "All except you. I'd like you to help offload your shuttle and get the wounded to the medical bay. The faster we treat them all, the better."

Krieg nodded and thumped his chest. "This is one lab rat that can lead the mice through the air vent!" He gave Maya's hair a brief stroke, then thundered out of the sickbay.

Sarah looked at Zero and Axton. "As for you two, I could use both of your tactical experience up on the bridge."

Zero nodded. "Then let's get moving."

Three minutes later, the lift to the bridge slid to a halt. Sarah was forcing her way out of the _Pearl'_ s lift and running for Cassidy's chair before the doors were more than half open. "Where did that escape pod come down?"

"A short flight mostly to the south, at the base of the blue mountain," Cassidy responded, running her hands across a dozen holoscreens. "But I'm a lot more motivated to learn Maya's medical condition."

Axton shook his head. "She's alive and recovering on a healing table. Don't you have a feed to everything on the ship up here? Including sickbay?"

"Haven't had a chance to check it," Cassidy said. "Didn't want any wayward warriors slipping in under my watch."

"Has there been any activity?" Zero peered at the screens. "Is the Order near?"

Cassidy shook her head. "Only two of their ships in this airspace, the pod and the prison barge."

Sarah's eyes narrowed. "What are they waiting for? They've had enough time to launch _some_ kind of response by now."

"They're probably still mounting one," Axton scoffed. "They're an understaffed, unfinished base on some god-forsaken, galactic edge world. There's no _way_ they planned for this."

"I've _fought_ these guys, Ax," Sarah snapped, fire blazing in her eyes. "They aren't that sloppy. _Ever_." She shook her head and stared at the holoscreens again. "The fact they haven't made some kind of move by _now_ scares the hell out of me."

"Then I recommend We alleviate those fears." >:) "Let's capture that pod."

She definitely considered it. Sarah stared at the escape pod's image for nearly a minute, arms folded, her lips pressed into a thin line. Ultimately, she shook her head. "No. I don't trust the situation. He'd have to know that running in an escape pod couldn't possibly get him far enough away to hide from us." Her eyes narrowed. "This feels like a trap."

"We fought our way free Of one such trap already," Zero said. "We could do it twice."

"I'm not walking into this one," Sarah said tightly. "I'd rather let him get away than let him get me twice."

`:| "You're sure about this? You want to just let him go?"

"You heard the lady, Z," Axton cut him off. "We're not chasing some random douchebag, and we're _definitely_ not walking into a trap. We stay here."

Zero shrugged. "Then what _is_ the plan?"

Sarah's jaw tightened. "What I want to do and what I _can_ do are wildly different things."

Axton raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why's that?"

"Because this isn't my ship," Sarah sighed. "If it were, I'd fire up the drive and head straight for Hestia station."

Axton mouth dropped open slightly. "Wait, you wanna _leave?_ With an enemy base still out there?"

"Absolutely." Sarah's expression was carved in stone. "We have the prisoners, detailed scans of one of their warships, the chance to pull every scrap of data out its mainframe, and the location of a facility vulnerable to heavy attack. Combined with the information Maya can and _did_ provide, my objectives have been met a dozen times over."

All three Hunters stared at her. "That's not what I expected to hear," Axton said cautiously. "It'd mean leaving an enemy stronghold intact, for one thing. You _know_ Maya wouldn't be happy about that."

"Neither am I," Sarah admitted, "but things didn't turn out like I'd expected. If they had, I'd be planning an attack on the base instead of contemplating how to convince a bunch of gung-ho supermercs to run from a fight."

"Supermercs?" Cassidy smiled a little. "I like the sound of that."

Axton tried to keep focused. "What changed?"

"What changed is that we didn't rescue a squad of battle-hardened commandos," Sarah said bitterly. "We rescued a bunch of half-trained children and a handful of civilians." She shook her head. "I can't risk their lives taking that base."

"Most are Dahl soldiers," Zero pointed out. "Doubtless they'll want their revenge, Whatever their age."

"I won't do it," Sarah rejected harshly. "I won't hand those kids guns and march them into battle against an enemy stronghold." She sighed again and rubbed her rank insignia. "If we attack the base, it's going to be eight people versus every Order fanatic on this planet. Pretty far from good odds."

"One soldier, seven supermercs, one ship, and two shuttles," Cassidy said playfully. "I think we could work with it."

Axton gave her a sideways look. "Damn. One fight and your bloodlust just springs to life, huh?"

"Worked that way for M- Gaige."

"You'd know, I guess." He turned back to Sarah. "So there it is, sweetie. I guarantee every single one of us is still willing to charge in." He gave her a slightly uncertain grin. "I'm guessing Zero's right, too. There's bound to be at least _some_ of those kids that wanna dish out a little payback. Hell, we've even got a pretty good arsenal for-"

" _No._ " Sarah's tone was ironclad. "Whether we go or stay, the recruits do _not_ fight."

"Actually, I think we could accomplish both."

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Say again?"

"Remain _and_ run," Cassidy elaborated. "We remain, you run." She pointed at one of her screens. "We _do_ have a spare spaceship."

Axton grimaced as he examined the warship's image. "You kiddin' me? Maya tore that sucker up _hard_ , and that was _before_ it crashed down on a mountain."

"They were already trying to get it airborne, though," Sarah said thoughtfully. "Can _we_ get it spaceworthy?"

"According to my scans, it seems so." Cassidy pulled up a diagram of the ship. "We can use our resources to restart their repair drones."

A trickle of cautious excitement and hope was running through Sarah's face. "How long would it take?"

"Hmm..." Cassidy eyed the display. "To seal the skin, start life support, re-engage the engines, and correct the computer crashes... we could call it complete in forty-four hours."

Sarah exhaled slowly. "Two days. It's never sounded so impressively fast and impossibly long at the same time." She chewed her lip for a minute, then glanced around at the three Hunters. "You'd all do it, wouldn't you? You'd all commit yourselves to holding the line against an unknown number of enemies in an insane attempt to fix that thing and give the rest of us a way out."

"Without a second thought," Axton said instantly, then glanced sheepishly at Zero and Cassidy. "But, uh... I'm a little personally involved."

Zero waved his hand. "We are not done here," he told Sarah. "We had designs on this world Before we met you." His sword flashed out, and he spun it slowly, the edge tracing bright patterns in the air. "I won't be chased off By a group of fanatics." His voice gave the impression of a grim smile. "Neither will Maya."

Sarah's gaze hardened slightly. "Then I suppose it wouldn't make a difference to point out that if something goes wrong, you're condemning everyone here to either death or recapture."

Axton winced. "Jeez, Sarah. That's a little harsh."

"No, it's true," she bit out. "They already captured these girls once. If we give them the chance, they'd almost certainly do it again." Her mouth twisted. "We're spinning one hell of a roulette wheel if we stay. Dahl could make invaluable use of what we've already gotten, but even _I_ can see the value in going after that base." She shook her head. "But if we fail, it's all for nothing."

"Except we _won't_ fail," Zero said firmly. "We faced Hyperion's might And killed their leader. Vault Hunters do not Frighten or fall easily."  >:) " _That_ I promise you."

"I'd like to believe it," Sarah said dryly. "I almost do, given the way I saw you and Krieg fight earlier. It's just... there's so _much_ at stake here." She paced uneasily, hands clasped behind her back. "I already lost the best soldiers I've ever had to the Order. Now I've got the fates of nearly fifty untrained, untested recruits on my shoulders, and that's not even factoring in the fury the Order is _certain_ to bring down to keep us from getting away with the knowledge we've acquired." She stopped pacing and stared hard at Zero. "You're asking me to put a _lot_ of faith in your group's strength and skill."

Zero nodded. "We're worthy of it."

Silence hung heavy in the air for a long minute. Finally, Axton cleared his throat. "You know, there's another option here."

"Oh?"

"Now, bear in mind, it's a little extreme," he cautioned. "But I think it might be a good compromise."

Cassidy's hands paused in their dance across the holo-screens. She glanced over her shoulder to look at him.

Axton took a deep breath. "What if we got the repair systems on the warship running, then Cassie-"

"Stop _right_ there, stupid!"

He broke off and stared at the command chair in disbelief. "I didn't even finish my sentence!"

Cassidy practically leapt up and spun towards him. "Let me give it a guess," she hissed, storming over. "You were on the verge of volunteering _me_ to whisk your wife and the waifs off to safety on Hestia station!"

Axton resisted the urge to take a step backward. He was suddenly struck by the fact that Cassidy was actually equal in height to Zero- he only saw her seated so often, he'd pretty much forgotten. "It'd definitely get them away from the Order."

"And it would leave everyone _else_ essentially abandoned!" Cassidy shouted furiously. "You want me to willingly walk away from my friends, my _family_?! To leave you lot languishing on this perilous planet, without protection and against an overwhelming enemy?! "

If Axton didn't know better, he would have sworn he saw the glint of tears in her holographic eyes. "Not _that_ overwhelming," he protested. "We've done pretty good so far."

"In part because you've had the assets of a damn fine ship," Sarah put in, a tiny smirk on her lips. "To say nothing of a skillful- and very protective, evidently- pilot." She rested a hand on Cassidy's shoulder. "You don't have to worry, Cassidy. I wouldn't have accepted his offer, even without your... enthusiastic protest."

Cassidy blinked and looked at Sarah. "Really?"

"Really," Sarah promised, still wearing that minute smile. "It's true I want to keep those children safe. But I'm not willing to sacrifice my honor by leaving anyone marooned on this world with the Order."

"We wouldn't _be_ marooned," he insisted. "You said yourself that warship can be up and flying in two days."

"Assuming it all acts as anticipated," Cassidy pointed out. Her voice was still simmering, but at least it was normal volume again. "If something goes screwy, you'd be stranded and _I'd_ be two month's roundtrip travel time." She folded her arms, glaring at him defiantly. "Too risky."

Axton glanced at Zero. "I'm not gonna get any help from you on this one, am I?"

Zero shook his head. "You brought on my sister's wrath," he said, a trace of amusement in his voice. "You face it alone."

He glanced at Cassidy's expression and shook his head. "Nah, I think I'd rather save my energy for fighting the Order." He shrugged at Sarah. "Well, there it is, honey. We're willing to go to the mat for you on this one, and no one's willing to walk away. Think that's good enough?"

"Not much choice, really," Sarah said dryly. "If you were _normal_ mercenaries I'd just triple your pay to leave now and we'd be gone. But you Vault Hunters..." she shook her head. "You're in it for the challenge, the adventure, and the fighting as much as the money." She gave Cassidy an appraising look. "And I'm just starting to appreciate the type of camaraderie you've all developed."

"Makes us a good team," Zero said.

"And very damn hard to control," Sarah grumbled. "In any case, we'll try it your way. Hold the line, fix the ship, then the kids and I fly it out of here." Abruptly, she jabbed her finger in Axton's chest. "But if the Order suddenly drops an entire fleet of warships into orbit from nowhere, we run in _this_ ship, _immediately._ " She looked around the bridge. "If you all want to come back after dropping the rest of us at a Dahl facility, then it's your business. But if the situation changes to radically favor the other side, we get the bystanders the hell _out._ "

Cassidy nodded. "I'll take those terms."

"Works for me, too." Axton looked at Zero. "How about it, Z? That one sound reasonable to you?"

"I can work with those confines," Zero agreed. "Sal might object, though."

"Assuming he and Gaige ever decide to wander back this way," Axton said, frowning slightly. "Cassie, can you get them on the ECHO? Find out what's taking so long?"

"I'm reluctant to risk a long range ECHO call," she said. "It'd be bad if the Order were to overhear it." She made a quick hand gesture and pulled up a new holoscreen. "But I would be willing to take the _Red Tail_ on a run and go get them."

Sarah blinked in surprise. "Are they done moving everyone to sickbay?"

"Finished a few minutes ago."

"Our boy Krieg," Axton chuckled. "Warhorse _and_ workhorse."

"I'm not sure I want the pilot leaving the ship right now," Sarah protested. "We could still come under attack at any moment. Besides, don't you need to monitor the repairs to the cruiser?"

Cassidy shook her head. "The derelict's drones are already doing their duty, and they know the ship's system by design. I'd be a worthless watcher." She motioned to Zero. "As for the pilot problem, I'm sure my brother wouldn't be bothered by assuming my station for a short stretch."

:/ "Family for you," Zero grumbled. "Volunteering you for the Small annoyances." He waved a hand. "Go ahead, sister. I'll _try_ to regard this as Another challenge."

"Is there any particular reason you can't let him go instead?" Sarah asked. "I'd rather have your expertise here if the Order shows up."

Cassidy hesitated. "Logically... no," she admitted reluctantly. "I just... want to take this task myself."

Sarah gave her a long, calculating look. "Tell me the truth. If I said don't go, you'd pull the exact same thing Gaige did, wouldn't you?"

She smiled weakly. "No surprising you a second time, is there?"

"Not with the same trick, at least." Sarah slapped Axton on the back. "Go with her, will you?"

That caught Axton by surprise, at least. "Seriously? Thought you'd want my help getting our new guests all set up."

"I remember your organizational skills," Sarah said dryly. "If I put you in charge of anything more than 'get from A to B', we'll have _Lord of the Flies_ on this ship in an hour."

"Oh, thanks," Axton snorted.

"Besides, you know the _Fence_ almost as well as I do," Sarah added. "I'm wondering if part of the reason they've taken so long is their unfamiliarity with it."

Axton had to laugh. "If it is, I'm never gonna let Gaige hear the end of it." He nodded. "Okay. When do we leave, kiddo?"

"Now," Cassidy said instantly. "I'm already running _Red's_ preflight preps."

"There we go, then." He looked at Sarah, an unexpected reluctance creeping into his chest. "I'll be back soon. Just don't... don't go anywhere."

Another smile's ghost flickered across her face. Her hand started to reach towards him... then quickly dropped back to her side. "I'll be here. Go on, go. Get the band back together."

He threw an exaggerated, half-mocking salute. "Aye aye, ma'am." He started towards the elevator. "Come on, Cassie. Let's get moving."

Axton kept his eyes on Sarah until the lift slipped below the floor, cutting her off from his sight. It wasn't until Cassidy spoke up a few seconds later that his mind cleared from a sort of melancholy haze.

"You two _did_ divorce, didn't you?"

"Oh, shut up, kid."

* * *

[Okay, fight fans, here's the score. I'm going to be taking February to try and write, polish, and finish the rest of this bad boy. If I try posting it as I go, I'm not going to be able to go back and improve the little things I tend to notice as easily as I'd like. So, Still Hunting will be on hiatus until March 1st. If anyone has something they'd like to see as a Space Between short, feel free to email/PM me with the idea and maybe I'll take a shot at it.]  


[My apologies to everyone, but I promise I'll be back on schedule. Hope to see you there, and thanks for all your support and comments thus far!] 


	14. One man's motivations

With a muffled _clank_ and a lurch Axton felt through his seat, the _Red Tail_ disconnected from the _Pearl_ and shot north over the landscape. “How long to make it to Sarah's crash site?”

“Maybe twenty minutes,” Cassidy said, checking her screens. “The engines are running at slightly reduced efficiency levels.”

“Really? Why?”

“M- Gaige used the main drive in atmo,” she answered. “I haven't had time to get them fully functional again.”

“Seriously?” Axton raised an eyebrow. “Even _I_ know that's a risky move. Why'd she do it?”

Cassidy shot him a small glare. “So she could catch Sarah's ship.”

“Oh.” He winced. “Sorry. I didn't know.”

She snorted and turned back to the console. “There's a lot lacking in your knowledge lately.”

Axton looked at her, startled. “What did you say?”

Cassidy slammed her hand on the console and whirled on Axton, eyes blazing furiously. “How could you just offer me up like that?!”

“Offer- oh, right. The Hestia thing.” He shrugged. “Look, I'm sorry about that, okay? I was thinking about the fastest way to get everyone to safety.”

“And you thought the optimum option was sending me into space as your spouse's chauffeur?” Her hands clenched. “I may not have all your Hunting experience, but I can still be more help _here!_ ”

Axton shook his head as frustration welled up in his chest. “It's not like that, Cassie.”

“I _did_ combat and kill four fighters,” she said heatedly. “You can't send me away before I've had a chance to show off my stuff!”

“Cassie-”

“You gave Gaige a go on Pandora! Trust _me_ to try my talents-”

“It's not about _you!_ ”

Cassidy flinched. Her mouth snapped shut, eyes widening as Axton's furious shout carved into her rant.

“I don't care about your rookie insecurities!” Axton yelled. “All I care about is getting my wife out of harm's way! _You're_ the pilot, _you're_ the only one that could fly her to safety!” He pushed himself out of his seat, pacing restlessly. “Hell, if anything, that should _boost_ your confidence! You're the only one I trust to _get_ her to safety! I sure as _hell_ don't think she'll make it in that flying deathtrap of a warship!”

She blinked. “You don't?”

“ _Hell_ no! She's a field commander, not a starship captain! Owning a souped up transport like the _Fence_ doesn't mean she can captain a warship, _especially_ not with an untrained crew! She's letting guilt and fear push her into this! She-” He broke off and stared at Cassidy, horrified into silence at the words that had just exploded out of him. “You can't tell her I said _any_ of that.”

Cassidy looked at him evenly just long enough for Axton to get nervous. Finally she nodded, folded her arms, and leaned back in her chair. “If that's what you think, why didn't you say so to Sarah?”

Axton sighed and dropped into the co-pilot's seat again. “I can't.”

“She's not your captain, _ex-_ commando,” Cassidy pointed out. “Not to mention your nuptials have been nullified. Surely you could say you're concerned for her safety.”

“I wasn't going to undermine her like that,” Axton growled. “Especially not in front of you all.” He sighed and rubbed his face. “I was hoping I could figure something else out before you got the warship patched up. Convince her to stay, maybe.” He gave a single bark of laughter. “Or just get the Vault open before those drones could finish the repair job in the first place. Then we could leave at the same time. I don't know, _something_.”

The shuttle flew on in silence for a minute before anyone spoke again. “I'm sorry I misconstrued your motives,” Cassidy offered quietly. “My perspective was a lot more selfish than I'd suspected.”

Axton shrugged. “Eh. I was young and egotistical too, once.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “ _Was?_ ”

He gave her a half-smirk, but didn't say anything.

After a few seconds of silence, Cassidy cleared her throat. “Can I ask a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Why are you so willing to help her? She sent you into exile on the savage side of space, yet you've been her staunchest supporter this whole time.”

Axton looked up sharply. Cassidy blushed slightly under his eye, but held her ground. Finally, he forced himself to smile and laugh. “What, did you miss my glory charge across our hull to get Sarah out of her ship? I'm still crazy about the gal, that's all.”

Cassidy shook her head. “Anyone can see you're still smitten,” she said flatly, “but that doesn't do enough to detail your devotion.” Her eyes flicked to the gun at his side. “Plus there's the record of your rampage with a rocket launcher in the shooting range. _That_ was more than mere lover's loyalty.”

He stared at her, feeling slightly uncomfortable. “Do you know _everything_ that happens on that ship?”

“Mostly,” she admitted. “So?”

Axton's breath huffed out. He rubbed his eyes. “I'll tell you on two conditions.”

“I'm _not_ abandoning anyone,” Cassidy said quickly.

“Fair enough. I wasn't super crazy about the idea anyway.” He held up a finger. “One, you don't tell Sarah _anything_ I say in here. From the moment we left to the moment we walk back onto the _Pearl_ , what gets said stays between us.”

She nodded.

“Two, you help me find _some_ way to make sure she doesn't fly away from this planet on that ship,” Axton said grimly. “She and those kids are safest with us, and I want your help making them realize it.”

Cassidy hesitated for a second, but again, nodded. “Deal.”

“Okay, then.” Axton spun his chair towards the window, trying to decide where to begin. “You ever hear of a planet called Acheron?”

“It's in the third galaxy,” Cassidy said instantly. “Planetary coordinates alpha-679.”

“I'll take your word for that. Next question. Do you know Dahl's policy on long-term merc ops?”

She frowned slightly. “Some kind of short timetable, I think.”

“Ninety days,” Axton confirmed. “If an op hasn't had forward motion in ninety days, the on-scene commander has authority to do anything they can to end the mission in Dahl's favor. Ten days after _that_ , if there's still no progress, Dahl can legally void the contract and executes the command staff for their failure.”

“Okay. So?”

“So Acheron is the _reason_ those rules exist,” Axton said darkly. “Dahl's had a contract with that planet for over a hundred years, and they've never been able to fulfill it. Dahl can't extricate from the conflict without bankrupting itself, because Acheron is grandfathered under the old rule system that promises results no matter how long it takes, or their money back with interest.” He gave her a mirthless smirk. “The late fees on this kind of contract are a bitch and a half.

“Anyway, in order to cut its losses and still hold up to the letter of the law, Dahl sends troops to Acheron on a regular basis.” His expression twisted into a hateful scowl. “All the troops that are expendable, or embarrassing, or they just can't get rid of any other way.”

Cassidy frowned. “What does this wartorn world have to do with you and Sarah?”

“It's where they _sent_ Sarah,” Axton said bitterly, “ _because_ of me _._ ”

“ _What?_ ”

“I went AWOL from Dahl because they were gonna execute me,” he explained, his voice grim. “But I wouldn't have _known_ to desert if Sarah hadn't tipped me off that there was a firing squad and a dozen bullets with my name on 'em.” He rubbed the insignia over his eye. “So instead of rotating to Themis like she was supposed to, they shipped her to Acheron.”

“They worked out she warned you,” Cassidy realized, “but they couldn't produce proof.”

“I'm sure of it,” Axton growled. “She went through hell down there.” He shook his head, disgust twisting his features. “I saw the scars. The physical ones, at least.”

Cassidy was silent for a minute, looking into his eyes. “So then it's guilt,” Cassidy said quietly. “Gallons of guilt guiding your actions.”

“Try _oceans_.” He leaned back in his chair, feeling like he'd just gone three rounds with the Warrior. “You know, I cared about one thing back in Dahl.”

“Sarah.”

“No. Me.” He managed a wry grin at Cassidy's expression. “Don't look so surprised, kid. Everything I did back there was for my personal fame and glory.”

“So... what was your wife?” she asked uncertainly. “A trophy?”

“Course not. I loved her.”

“But-”

“What Sarah and I had wasn't about Dahl,” Axton said, his face softening a little. “We were both in together, but on the professional side, I was trying to look good by pulling crazy stuff all the time. In our _private_ life...” he smiled. “ _That_ was where she took priority.

“And then the two sides collided. I used a dignitary I was supposed to protect to take out a whole mess of bad guys. I figured it was worth it- three top leaders, eight high level lieutenants, god only _knows_ how many of their bodyguards and most loyal underlings, all for one little dignitary.” He shrugged. “Seemed like a good trade.”

“Only those over your head thought otherwise,” Cassidy said.

“Yeah,” Axton sighed. “I miscalculated and screwed up everything. Sarah had gotten me out of tough spots before, but I guess this time really shoved a burr up _someone's_ ass. The best she could do was warn me.” His hand tightened on the arm of his chair. “That warning cost her too damn much. Sarah's gone through six different kinds of hell while I've been playing Vault Hunter on Pandora. I can't fix any of that, but the absolute _least_ I can do is help her get home safe.”

Cassidy scratched her head. “Dahl doomed her to die... and you want to help her return to those ruthless masters?”

He made a face. “Actually, no. I _want_ her to stay with me on the _Pearl_ and become a Vault Hunter. Trouble is, I _know_ she won't do it.”

“Why not?”

He smiled bitterly. “Because she didn't leave with me the first time.”

Cassidy opened her mouth, then closed it again, clearly at loss for words.

“Yeah, not much to say about that one,” Axton agreed. “Can't lie, either. It stung.”

“Yet all your actions so far still support her.”

“I've had time to deal,” he said with forced levity. “And she killed someone for me. That took some of the sting out.”

“And there's the still the problem of your guilt plaguing you.” She looked at him with a mix of sympathy and regret.

Axton frowned. “Stop starin' at me like that, will ya? You don't need to feel bad about my personal problems.”

“I do when you make them mine,” Cassidy pointed out. “You want me to help delay her departure for Dahl.”

“That's got nothin' to do with my feelings about Sarah,” Axton protested.

Cassidy raised an eyebrow skeptically.

Axton shrugged. “Okay, so it does,” he admitted. “But all I'm asking is that you help keep her safe. I'm _not_ asking you to untangle my relationship for me.”

“That's good,” she said dryly. “I'd be tempted to try the Gordian knot trick.”

“The what?”

“It-” A beeping from the console drew Cassidy's attention. “Ship's sensors are showing energy emissions,” she reported, frowning slightly.

Axton spun to the weapons console and started firing up the _Red Tail's_ guns. “Is it the Order? Did they send something after us?”

“No, nothing so notable,” Cassidy said. “This is fairly far off, and pretty paltry. It's more like lightning, or-” she stopped, hands tensing on the controls. “Shots from shock shotgun!”

“A shock shotgun?” Axton's jaw tightened. “Like _Gaige's_ favorite gun?”

“Yes!” Cassidy's hands flew over the controls.

“But we're still miles from the crash site!” Axton protested. “How can we be picking up an electrical hand weapon from here?”

“Good sensors plus scads of shooting,” Cassidy said tightly. “Hang on.”

A burst of acceleration pinned him to his seat as the _Red Tail's_ engines flared into overdrive. Axton tried not to pass out under the sudden surge of g-forces, gripped his chair arms, and silently willed Cassidy to go faster.

 

* * *

[You didn't really think I'd be gone for a month and only offer up a 2k word update, did you? :) ] 

 


	15. Armor and insects

“Come on, Sal, hurry _up!”_ Gaige yelled impatiently. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot the jagged edge of the cargo bay door. “I wanted to be back at the _Pearl_ half an hour ago! We're gonna miss the fight!”

“All right, all right, I'm comin'!” Salvador appeared in the hallway, a black metal case in his arms. “And don't worry, they wouldn't go in there without us.” He grinned as he closed in. “Or is something else _worming_ under your skin?”

Gaige shot him her best withering look. “Someday, I'm gonna find something that creeps _you_ out and mention it every chance _I_ get.”

“Whatever you say, _hermana_ ,” Salvador chuckled as he picked his way across the cargo hold.

“Completely serious!” Gaige threatened, stepping carefully over the ragged door. “Every conversation will be _laden_ with references to it!”

“Could put me in a _slimy_ situation,” Salvador agreed. “I just might have to _ooze_ my way around it.”

“And if I've got a picture of it? Oh, boy, just you wait!” Gaige hopped out of the ship and into the muddy slush. “You'll be walking down the hall, minding your own business, and _bam!_ ” She spun around and threw her arms wide open. “Big ol' holographic picture of something _you_ hate, right in front of you!”

“Ooh, good idea!” Salvador jumped off the ship and trotted over to its port side, pulling his ECHO device off his belt. “I'm gonna snap a pic of those grubs right now, so you can always remem-”

“Don't you _dare!_ ” Gaige took a flying leap at Salvador, tackling him and stretching over his shoulders for his ECHO. “I swear, if I find _one_ maggot pic on your hard drive-!”

“Oh, there's gonna be _lots_ more than one!” Salvador laughed, keeping his ECHO just out of Gaige's reach. “There's gonna be a whole _mess_ of writhing, oozing, squeaking grub pictures...” he trailed off as he suddenly realized Gaige wasn't thrashing on his shoulders anymore. “Uh... Gaige?”

“Look, Sal.” Gaige's voice was tense. “ _Look_ at them.”

Salvador followed her line of sight to the side of the transport, taking his first real look at the grubs since entering the ship. “They're... not gooey anymore.”

“They're not _grubs_ anymore.” Gaige slid back onto the ground and took a few cautious steps towards the leathery, brownish-white objects covering the ship's hull. “They look more like cocoons, or pupa or something.”

“Like what?”

“Like what a varkid turns into before it evolves.”

“Hmmm...” Salvador eyed the objects closely. “How long before they hatch?”

“No idea, and I'm not waiting around to find out.” Gaige started for the _Osprey_ , not quite running, but not walking, either. “Come on, Sal!”

“What's the big deal?” Salvador asked, chasing after her. “You've fought bugs before.”

“Not the full grown version of power-sucking larva!” Gaige shot back. “What happens if the adults decide they like the smell of _our_ ship's engines? You really want to get stuck out here?”

Salvador grimaced and picked up his pace. “Not if it means missin' out on the _real_ fight.”

“Yep.” Gaige clambered up the ladder into the hovering _Osprey._ “Don't worry, we'll be back later anyway. Still have to use the _Pearl's_ guns to pay our respects to the dead, remember?”

“And in the meantime, Sarah oughta be glad to get _this_ back.” Salvador handed the black case to Gaige and started up the short ladder himself. “Whatever it is.”

“Maybe she'll tell us later,” Gaige said. She tucked it into her storage deck and offered Salvador a hand. “If not, well...” she grinned and pulled Salvador into the ship. “There's more than one way to open a box. You've still got the tags, right?”

“Right here.” Salvador patted his own storage deck. “Come on, let's get going.”

Gaige nodded and head towards the cockpit. “It _is_ a puzzle,” she admitted as the door slid open. She slid into the pilot's seat and started running the preflight start-up. “What would a professional soldier store in a blast proof case inside a nigh-indestructible safe?”

Salvador shrugged and dropped into the co-pilot's chair. “Favorite gun? Spare money? I dunno, _hermana,_ you're askin' the wrong Hunter.”

“Let's go ask the right one, then.” Gaige's hands played over the contols. The _Osprey's_ engines whined, picking up speed... then dropped back to their previous noise level.

Salvador frowned. “Uh... shouldn't we be moving?”

“Yes.” Gaige looked at the displays, puzzled. “The engines didn't catch for some reason. Hang on.” She re-entered the command sequence. Once again, the engines spun up briefly, then settled back into an idling pace.

Salvador's frowned deepened. “Is something wrong with the ship?”

“I'm not sure. Let me run a diagnostic.” Gaige's fingers raced over the console, bringing up a list of equipment statuses. “Let's see... no physical issues... no mechanical problems... there's a slight power drain, but nothing seri-” her eyes widened. “Power drain?!”

Salvador's mind leapt to same conclusion. “You think...”

Gaige stood up and headed for the door. “Let's go see.”

A few minutes later, Salvador raised his eyebrows questioningly and looked at Gaige. “You gonna go under there, or what?”

Gaige hesitated at the edge of the _Osprey,_ a unusually reluctant expression on her face. “Are you sure _you_ don't want to go take a look?” she asked hopefully.

“Me?” Salvador shrugged. “What do I know about spaceships? _You're_ the resident tech genius.”

“You'd just have to make sure there _is_ a grub in there and pull it off,” Gaige said desperately. “I can go in and do the repair work after that.”

He stared at her for a second, then chuckled. “Wow. You _really_ don't like these things, do you?”

“I _hate_ grubs!” she burst out. “I hate the writhing, I hate the wriggling, I _especially_ hate the slime! And these things are mega-sized!” She crossed her arms and glared furiously at the _Osprey_. “Much as I love our ships, I _really_ don't want to get face-to-face with one of these things.”

Salvador rubbed his beard, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You know...I wonder if I could raise one as a pet.” He grinned at her. “My own slimy little bed warmer.”

“SAL! _EW!_ ” Gaige shivered in disgust and glared furiously at him. “Are you going to stop torturing me and _help_ , or am I going to have to sic Deathtrap on you first?”

“Chill, _hermana,_ I'll take a look,” he laughed, ducking under the hovering _Osprey_. “I just haven't seen you this creeped out by anything before. Gotta enjoy it, no?”

“No!” Gaige waited uneasily, foot tapping in the snow. “Find anything yet?” she called after a minute.

“Not yet! No slime, no grub, no... huh.” She could practically _feel_ his grin. “Hey, guess what! I found one!”

“Great! Now do you think you can pull it off so we can _leave?_ ”

“Um... nope.”

Gaige blinked. “'Nope'? What do you mean...” She slapped her forehead, grimacing. “It's already cocooned, isn't it.”

“Yep!”

She sighed heavily. “Well, damn.” She ducked under the _Osprey's_ engines and started crouch-walking towards Salvador. “Where is it, Sal? Show me where you found it.”

He pointed to a spot on the hull. “Here we go.”

“Oh, _dammit_.” Gaige made a face as she worked her way over. “That little bastard. It cocooned itself right onto the main power line.”

“That's why we ain't flying away, eh?”

“Yeah. It's eating all the power before we can use it. The only thing the ship gets to use is whatever it _can't_ absorb, and that's not enough to get us flying.” She squinted at the lump. “Huh. Sal, do me a favor.”

“Another one?”

“Poke it for me.”

Salvador blinked. “ _Poke_ it? Why do you want that?”

“Testing a hunch. Just reach out and poke the thing, will you?”

He shrugged and pushed on the cocoon. “Wait a second...” He frowned and pushed a little harder, then tapped with his finger. “That feels like metal.”

“I think it is,” Gaige said grimly. “I'm guessing those cocoons aren't just hardened flesh. It looks like it actually used some of our own hull metal to make it. There's no way to just pull it off.”

“These things eat electricity and use metal to spin a cocoon?” Salvador asked. “Parasitic _pendejos,_ aren't they?”

Gaige stared at him, momentarily distracted from the bug problem. “Tell me, Sal, were you hanging out with Maya or Cassidy a lot on the trip out here?”

“They're both fun. Maya teaches me new words, _Pilota_ helps me string 'em together.” He looked back at the cocoon and scratched his head. “Any ideas?”

“A couple, but they're all kinds of risky,” Gaige said reluctantly. “Come on. Let's get out from under here so we can at least stand up straight.” She started working towards the edge of the ship.

“Whatcha thinking, _hermana?_ ” Salvador asked, following her. “What kind of _loco_ plan you working on?”

“The simplest option is just to cut it off,” Gaige said, straightening up as she emerged into the open air. “We've got a a fully equipped machine shop, after all. There's tools in there we could probably use to cut it off, even if it _is_ metal.”

Salvador nodded and stretched as he merged from the shuttle's underbelly. “Makes sense. So what's the problem?”

“That for all we know, cutting it could cause the same reaction _shooting_ them did.”

Salvador grimaced. “Oh. That.”

“Yeah.” Gaige was silent for a long minute. “I think our best bet is to call for help,” she finally admitted. “If we can get the _Pearl_ to come get us, I can do a more focused sensor scan on this thing and figure out the best way to remove it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You don't look like you like the idea. Worried they'll try to snack on our big ship's engines?”

“Nah, we've got enough firepower to handle some bugs,” Gaige huffed. “I'm just imagining what Axton is gonna say.”

Salvador grinned broadly. “Yeah, he might bust on ya for this one.”

“He's gonna laugh his ass off and give me all _kinds_ of hell for 'this one',” she grumbled. “I can hear him now: 'Just couldn't wait, could you?'” she said in high voice. “'Just _had_ to steal the shuttle and fly off, then get yourself stuck, huh?'”

Salvador chuckled. “Want me to call the ship for ya?” he offered.

“No, I'll do it,” she sighed. “I just hope he's not on the bridge when Cassidy picks up.” She flipped on her ECHO-

An ear-rending shriek shattered the arctic air, violent and piercing. Gaige slapped her communicator off, wincing as the sound faded reluctantly. “The _hell?!_ ”

Salvador wriggled a finger in his ear. “Why did you play a recording of the warship signal? That thing's loud and obnoxious.”

“All I did was key up to transmit! That's a jamming signal, and it's-”

A red blur streaked overhead, filling the air with the sound of rockets. Gaige and Salvador spun around, pulling their weapons and trying to get a clear line of sight on the intruder-

“Freeze, mercs!” The digitally modified voice boomed across the snow, rolling like electronic thunder. “Drop the guns and get your hands up!”

Gaige's mouth tightened as she looked into the sky. “Like I was trying to say,” she snarled darkly, “that jamming signal was _live_.”

The figure was clad in red metal, reminiscent of old style armor. A glowing yellow visor stared at them from a swept back red helmet. A steady burst of rocket thrust held them a few feet off the ground, out of reach and giving them the instant mobility to dodge any fire.

The twin cannons mounted on top of either arm and trained on both Gaige and Salvador threatened instant bloody death if either of them took a shot.

“I said drop them,” the figure ordered. “These new plasma weapons can cut right through those old model shields you're wearing. I'd rather bring prisoners back than corpses, but if you insist...” The guns whined menacingly.

Gaige grimaced and shot Salvador a look. He nodded slowly. “Okay, _cabron._ I'm droppin' my guns.” His miniguns splashed into the dirt.

“Now you, Red,” the voice commanded. “Unless you want to test me.”

Gaige's teeth gnashed, but her shotgun clattered to the ground. The fingers on her left hand twitched ever so slightly, but she didn't clench her fist. “Plasma weapons, huh?” she growled, keeping her arms lowered. “Thought that kind of gun was too flimsy to work in atmosphere.”

“Perks of dating the resident tech genius,” the warrior said smugly. “Only the best toys for his lady.”

Salvador ran his wary gaze over the red figure. “So you're one of the bad guys, eh? The ones that have been kickin' Dahl's _cajones_ all over the six galaxies?” He folded his arms, glaring up with challenge in his eyes. “Got some good lookin' armor, at least.”

“You killed half my shipmates with that superweapon attack in orbit, merc,” the figure retorted. “Everyone's a bad guy to someone.”

Gaige's chest loosened slightly. _She's_ _a talker. Excellent._ “Not everyone throws a whole warship at a single transport!” she yelled scornfully. She tried to remember what else Sarah had told them about the unknown enemy- “Or goes around attacking training planets!”

“You don't know anything, merc. There's a lot more at stake than one ship or planet. The galaxies _need_ our Order.”

“The way Pandora needed Hyperion's order?” Salvador snorted. “You wannabe _conquistadors_ are all the same.”

“Not all of us.” The figure motioned with her left arm. “Let's go. End of the trench, start walking. And get those hands _up!_ ”

“Hands up, huh?” Gaige held back a smirk. “You heard the lady, Sal.” She raised both hands by her head...and clenched her fist.

Deathtrap exploded into the air in a blaze of light, his own synthesized voice rippling out an electronic roar of challenge. His electrical burst lashed out at the red-armored warrior, striking her shield. The warrior swung both her arm cannons at the new opponent, firing beams of green energy at Deathtrap. He skated sideways in mid-air, evading the searing blasts, then hurtled at the warrior, claws gleaming. Salvador and Gaige took advantage of the sudden confusion, scooping up their weapons and adding their fire to the mix.

To Gaige's disbelief, the armor shrugged off their volley with hardly a ripple of energy from the suit's shields. Almost casually, and still trading fire with Deathtrap, the hovering soldier shifted her aim with one of the cannons.

The weapon's barrel flashed green.

The shot wasn't carefully aimed and splashed against the ground instead of Gaige directly, but the shockwave was still enough to send her reeling back, her shields drained to almost nothing. Gaige staggered back to her feet and saw Salvador pushing himself back up on her right. A whine of energy drew her attention forward and she saw the cannon now trained exactly on them and glowing with power-

An electronic gurgle of fury echoed around them as Deathtrap brought his claws down on the warrior's red armor plating. A fountain of sparks erupted from where his scythe-like talons struck, and the soldier's jets pulsed, throwing her back thirty feet.

Gaige's mouth dropped open as she caught a glimpse of the soldier's armor. Their weaponfire had simply bounced off her shields, but Deathtrap's claws had carved deep, sparking grooves into the armor's forearm.

“Her shields can't take physical attacks!” Gaige cupped her hands around her mouth. “Get in close, boy!” she yelled. “Rip 'er apart!”

Deathtrap warbled an acknowledgment and zoomed over the blue snow, claws blazing. The red armored warrior's jets flared again, sending her soaring overhead, keeping her out of Deathtrap's reach while she rained green plasma down on the robot and Vault Hunters alike.

“Come on, Sal!” Gaige yelled, hefting her shotgun. “Support fire!”

“It's a _gunfight, hermana!_ You really think you gotta tell _me_ anything?!” Salvador opened fire, filling the air with mingun rounds as he tracked the flying warrior.

The red armor weaved through the air, dodging or merely shrugging off their bullets while trying to stay clear of Deathtrap's razor-edged reach. She strafed and pinwheeled across the sky, firing blast after blast at the robot the entire time, occasionally sending a shot at Gaige or Salvador, forcing them break off firing and leap aside.

Despite her maneuverability, however, Deathtrap was closing in. More and more her shots focused on the mechanized fighter, each near miss of the green energy sending a spike of concern for her robot through Gaige's chest-

With one colossal burst of speed, Deathtrap lunged at the flying warrior, latching his claws around her legs. In response, the warrior jammed her nearest cannon against Deathtrap's shoulder and fired. The blast severed his arm, scattering it back into a blaze of light.

But Deathtrap's sacrifice had been worth it. A torrent of fire and sparks exploded from one of her leg jets, destroying it. Deathtrap clung to her other leg with his remaining arm like a terrier on a rat, dragging the warrior back to ground in a uncontrolled crash-landing near Sarah's transport. Gaige sprinted for the impact crater, heart in her throat at the thought of what the smashdown might have done to Deathtrap-

The warrior exploded out of the crater with a short boost of her functioning jets, arcing up and sharply back into the ground. One hand lanced out in front of her, its red metal gauntlet latched around Deathtrap's head in a vise-like grip. She slammed the robot into the ground with all her strength, then pounded on his armored hide with her free hand. Deathtrap's remaining arm was clawing at her, trying to stem the furious rain of blows, but Gaige could tell his power levels were dropping rapidly-

“Get _off_ him, you bitch!”

Gaige reached the entangled combatants and slammed her metal fist against the warrior's visor, staggering the warrior and disrupting her attacks. The red warrior whipped her free arm towards Gaige's head, its cannon glowing-

The plasma blast seared Gaige's skin and hair, but she jerked aside in time to avoid a fatal shot. Her metal hand seized the gauntlet by the wrist and forced it skyward, the cannon blazing uselessly into the air. She rammed her shotgun against the arm still clamped around Deathtrap's head and emptied the clip into it, screaming her fury and determination into the freezing air.

It wasn't enough. The warrior's hand remained locked onto Deathtrap's head, and even worse, the armor was stronger than Gaige's prosthetic. She could feel the joint at the arm beginning to weaken as the red warrior tried to bring her cannon to bear again-

“ _Get clear, hermana!_ ”

Gaige let go of the armor and rolled aside without hesitation. She came up just in time to see Salvador with a pair of rocket launchers.

“ _Dual wield, baby!_ ”

The first rocket struck the sweeping helmet, finally breaking her grip on Deathtrap and rocking her on her heels. The second exploded against her chest, throwing her off balance and staggering back from Deathtrap.

The rest of Salvador's rockets rained down everywhere they could, smashing the warrior's armor and shields with a torrent of fire and fury that made even Gaige flinch.

Then she pulled her shotgun, and its fire resounded in the air as she threw every ounce of firepower she had at the red warrior. Salvador had dropped his empty launchers and was piling even more lead on the enemy, a pistol in one hand and rifle in the other. Together, he and Gaige rained destruction on their foe, a hail of projectiles and energy that would have annihilated anything they had ever faced before.

Gaige didn't let up on the trigger until her very last round of shotgun ammunition had been spent. A wall of smoke and fire cut anything around the transport out of sight, and she squinted, trying to pierce the veil-

A shaft of plasma lanced through the haze, sending Gaige diving for cover on the other side of the transport. “Don't you have _any_ respect for fight cliches?!” she yelled, swapping her depleted shotgun for an SMG. “You're supposed to stand around until the smoke _clears_ before you start shooting again!”

The only response from the red warrior was another blast of plasma fire.

Gaige rattled off a burst from her SMG then ducked back into cover, taking a quick breath. _Okay, Gaige,_ think! _How do you beat an enemy that's practically immune to your guns and can only be hurt by_ physical _attacks when the only physical option is Deathtrap and he's too badly damaged to move and what the_ hell _is beside my_ head _right now-_

She leaped up and ran a few steps from the veritable forest of metallic cocoons all over the transport's side. An involuntary shudder of revulsion rippled through her as she looked at the pulsating lumps of-

_Pulsating?!_

A silver-edged, clawlike appendage stabbed out from one of the cocoons. Gaige could only stare in disgusted fascination as a second bladed protrusion pierced its way clear of the metal shell, a thick, viscous purple liquid dripping onto the blue mud beneath the cocoon. A head appeared next, vaguely insectoid with glittering purple eyes and a mouthful of razor teeth, wriggling and thrashing its way out the metal shell. It somehow made Gaige think of a bug that had been merged with a machine and given the teeth of a shark.

The thing swung its head around, glittering eyes sweeping across the snow. It caught sight of Gaige and hissed, silver teeth gleaming in the sunlight. She raised her gun-

The creature suddenly burst into a high-pitched, undulating shriek, the sound a thousand saws on metal, a million decibels of agony. Gaige cried out in pain and clapped her hands over her ears, but the sound seemed to bypass her body and drill straight into her mind.

The bizarre animal fell mercifully silent as it heaved once more and pulled itself free of its shattered metal cocoon, dropping into the mud. It hit the ground hunched up, a mass of brown metaled flesh coming up nearly two feet off the ground. Then it began to straighten out, its long, sinuous, strangely insect-like body uncurling itself, and she realized it was much bigger than that. Its head looked up, fixed on her eyes, and its mouth opened again-

Gaige lunged.

Her mechanical fist slammed the metal insect's head faster than it realized what she was doing, preventing it from giving off the incapacitating shriek again. Before it could recover from the surprise impact, Gaige rammed her SMG into the creature's toothy maw and fired. Her bullets shredded the metallic skull, sending fragments of its head scattering into the snow. Its bladed 'arms' and oddly stick-like legs convulsed as she laid fire into the rest of its body, revulsion driving a deep-seated need to ensure the thing was _dead._

When the last bullet had done its work, Gaige exhaled shakily, trying to collect her thoughts... and realized the other pods were throbbing.

Gaige backpedaled from the ship, panning her weapon quickly over the cocoons, trying to judge which of the metal blisters would be the next to rupture. _Great. I have to play bullet whack-a-skag with a bunch of metal bugs, Deathtrap's down, and Sal's still fighting that-_

 _Oh, SH-_ “ _Salvador!_ ” Gaige screamed into her ECHO. “Sal, those cocoon things are hatching! Watch-”

A chorus of piercing shrieks ripped through the air, driving Gaige to her knees as pain stabbed into her ears and brain. She looked up through tearing eyes and saw half a dozen brown skinned, purple-eyed insectoid heads bursting from their metal shells, all of them bellowing out their debilitating cries.

Gaige tried to take aim with blurry eyes and an unsteady hand and raked the side of the ship with fire. A few of the bugs whipped their heads as her shots splashed against their metal skin, but continued their crippling wail. Her gun clattered to the ground as she pressed both hands over her ears, trying to block the endless, mind-rending shrieks-

A blast of electricity arced across the side of the ship, chaining from one half-emerged bug to the next. The metal insects' wails cut off in harmless squawks, and another burst of jagged lightning detonated the brown-skinned insect nearest the cargo bay. Gaige felt her eyes clear slightly and looked for the source of the attack-

“ _Deathtrap!_ ”

His flights circuits disabled, his right arm gone and bleeding power, Deathtrap had still managed to claw his way over to help his mistress. He fired a third bolt of lightning at the insects, electricity leaping between the bugs.

The insects recognized the new threat. A chorus of clicking chirps filled the air as the bugs freed themselves from their cocoons, dropping to the ground or scuttling up the side of Sarah's transport. The insects on top of the ship gave a rippling shudder that flowed disturbingly through their brown carapaces, and thin, almost delicate crystalline structures burst from their backs-

_Wings?!_

The swam took to the air with a menacing drone. Gaige snatched up her SMG and fired into the air, but the insects were too agile to strike fatally. They whirled across the sky, a twisting cyclone of brown metal skin and silver-edged claws. Gaige dashed to Deathtrap's side, crouching beside his damaged form and preparing to fire into the sky again-

A burst of green plasma carved a path through the flying insects. Gaige blinked in surprise, recognizing the red warrior's weapon fire. _But why is she shooting the bugs?_ Her knuckles whitened on her gun. _More importantly, why_ isn't _Salvador?!_

A mournful gurgle drew her gaze down to Deathtrap. His shots at the creatures had finally drained his power, and his skin blazed as he broke into light and returned to her arm.

Gaige took a breath and rubbed her metal limb. _Don't worry, boy. I'll be fine until you're up again. Right now, I've gotta help Sal!_ She picked herself and sprinted around the back of the transport, keeping on eye on the spiraling insects.

The creatures, however, paid her no mind. Their focus seemed entirely directed to the red armored warrior, trying to dodge her plasma blasts and get close enough to attack with their gleaming claws and flashing teeth.

 _Just as long as they don't do that scream thing again,_ Gaige thought fervently. She raced down the trench, eyes whipping across the snow- _There!_

Salvador lay facedown in a blue snowbank, his clothing charred and smoking around the edges, guns still clenched in both hands. Gaige dashed across the battle-torn ground to his side and rolled him onto his back, and she saw his left sleeve was soaked in red. “Sal! Salvador, wake up!”

For an eternity of seconds, there was no response. Then Salvador's eyes sprang open and he leaped to his feet, laughing madly and firing into the sky, as if he _wasn't_ still bleeding profusely from a wounded shoulder. “Thanks for the wake-up call, _hermana!_ I was missing all the fun!”

Gaige allowed herself one second to shake her head in disbelief before setting her back to Salvador's and adding her fire to his. “Why do I even worry about you?!”

“'Cause you keep forgetting I'm a _loco-_ assed Pandoran _,_ _chica!_ ” An unwary insect exploded as it flew into Salvador's line of fire. “Where the hell did these things come from?!”

“Those are the grubs, Sal!” He mouth twisted as she caught another bug with her bullets. “What happened to you?!”

“Tagged by that _bruja's_ gun, then something shoved a metal spike in my ear!”

“That'd be the-”

A thousand voices screamed into her brain as the insects spiraling overhead wailed in unison. Gaige cringed but kept firing, trying to focus on the sound of her weapon instead of the brain-melting shrieks. She felt Salvador stagger slightly at the sonic impact and pressed her back against his, both of them using each other to stay upright and keep fighting.

Even the red warrior seemed affected by the sound. She dropped to one knee, her fire becoming erratic as she struggled to keep the insects and their shield-bypassing claws away from her armor-

A sudden, crystal clear thought broke through the pain in Gaige's head like a lightning bolt. “Stop shooting, Sal!”

“ _What?!_ ”

“I said, _stop shooting!_ ” Gaige's SMG vanished and her metal hand flicked over her belt. “And kill your shield!”

“You gone _loco_ yourself?! That's-”

“Just _trust_ me, Sal!”

Salvador held his triggers for another few seconds, his face a whirl of confusion as his baser instincts warred with his mind. Then his guns fell silent, and he deactivated his shield. “Hope you know what you're doing!”

“Oh, I _do._ ” Gaige pointed at the insects, smiling grimly. “It's already working.”

The creatures closest to them had stopped shrieking and were hovering over them, looking around in what appeared to be confusion. A handful further away had already turned from the Vault Hunters and were streaking towards the red warrior, with more right behind them.

Salvador stared. “What-”

“Energy eaters, Sal,” Gaige said. “Right now, that suit of armor is the brightest power source around, _and_ it's trying to kill them.” She sprinted for the _Osprey,_ waving her arm. “Now's our chance! Come on!”

“You better not be thinking what I think you are!” Salvador protested, hurrying after her. “We're not gonna run from a _fight!_ ”

“Course not!” She looked back and grinned viciously. “I just thought we might be able to use the ship's guns to even things up!”

“But what about the- _behind you!_ ”

Gaige spun at Salvador's warning shout to see another insect explode into view, its powerful black metal body snapping towards her like a whip, teeth gleaming in the sunlight. She flinched backwards, eyes clenching shut and instinctively raising her arms-

_Clang._

Gaige felt a sharp impact jolt through her prosthetic limb, vibrating up into her shoulder and knocking her to the ground. Her breath _whooshed_ out, and her eyes burst open, revealing sharp metal teeth latched onto her forearm, purple saliva dripping from the insect's maw. “ _Sal!_ ”

“Get _off_ her!” Salvador threw himself at the creature-

The insect's wings snapped open, clubbing Salvador in the face and hurling him back. Reckless fury overtook Gaige, and she clenched her fist. The familiar tingle of digistruct energy ran through the nerves of her shoulder as her limb charged its digistruct circuits.

But Deathtrap didn't appear. Instead, the normal blaze of light seemed to catch on the creature's teeth and flow into its head. Its purple eyes flashed a brilliant blue, and the creature shrieked, releasing Gaige's arm and staggering away from her.

She didn't waste the chance. Gaige kicked upward with both feet, slamming the creature's upper body and throwing it backwards. She scrambled to up and dashed to Salvador's side. “Sal! Get up! Hurry!”

“Ugh...” Salvador shook his head blearily and pushed himself up. “That hurts a lot more without a shield. Where's-”

A high-pitched shriek rippled across the snowfield. Gaige flinched, expecting the pain to burn across her mind again...but it didn't happen. Instead, the sound seemed to bolster her will and sharpen her focus. She looked around for the source-

The black-skinned insect was looking at her and Salvador, blue eyes glowing intently, mouth open as it projected its cry.

 _No. That's a_ song, _not a cry._

The creature swung its head towards the swarm of its brown-skinned cousins and its voice changed again. The swarm seemed to hesitate, then as one, plunged at the still battling red warrior, heedless of her fire slashing through their ranks.

Gaige and Salvador stared in amazed disbelief as brown metal crashed against red, dodging or just ignoring the lethal bolts of plasma. The warrior destroyed one or two insects with every shot, but there were still dozens of the creatures in the air, and their numbers were beginning to win out. Her shots become more wild, more desperate. Gaige could hear the fighter cursing and shouting in fury as the silver blades began to tear into her armor, its shields useless against physical attacks-

[-ige! Sal! Can you hear me?!]

“Axton?!” Gaige hit her ECHO as she turned to search the horizon. “Ax, where are you?!”

[Inbound! We're close, just hang on!]

Salvador looked at the mass of insects teeming around the warrior. “No rush, _hermano._ I think this is just about-”

“ _Die, mercenaries!_ ”

Gaige's head whipped back around. She saw the red warrior's arm arc back and hurl something into the air. A split second later, one of the insects lashed out with its silver claws, slicing through the armor, the flesh, the bone. The warrior's arm fell to the ground, followed a second later by the warrior herself.

But her final act had been successful. A small object flew through the air towards them, the blue light glinting off the egg-shaped lump of metal.

“ _Grenade!_ ” Gaige turned, planning to run for cover-

And crashed into the black-bodied insect. The blue-eyed creature loomed over them, fangs glittering, wings spread.

“Son of a-”

The creature coiled its long body around them, its wings crashing down over their heads to form a glittering dome. There was a dull _clunk_ sound, and through the translucent membrane, Gaige saw the the grenade bounce off the creature's wings-

A flare of purple light washed over her and darkness crashed through her mind. The last thing she heard before blacking out completely was a single word, wrenched from a terrified throat.

[ _MOTHER! ! !_ ] 

* * *

[And now we're really back. Hello, everyone! With a little good luck, that will have been my last hiatus until the end of this story. Thanks for reading!] 


	16. Ashes of the day

Axton saw the creature throw itself on top of Gaige and Salvador, saw the brilliant flash of light, felt the speeding _Red Tail_ heave as the blast washed over them-

And then he heard Cassidy's scream.

He barely registered the word encapsulated by it. He didn't have to. The pain, the loss, the fearful _need_ as her voice tried to reject the truth of her all-too-perfect eyesight told him everything he needed to know.

Then his own eyes saw more of the _things_ that had killed his friends, and he had _focus._

" _Guns up!_ "

The targeting systems flared to life. Axton seized the controls and cut loose, rapid fire bolts of energy blazing through the swarm below.

A handful of beasts died before they realized there was a new enemy. The rest took less than a second to swarm up and launch themselves into the air. Axton had a brief impression of claws and teeth-

Cassidy threw the _Red Tail_ into a hard turn, slamming Axton against his shoulder restraints and, infuriatingly, turning his guns _away_ from his targets. He whipped his head over, ready to shout at her, order her to turn back-

The words died in his chest. Cassidy's normally calm face was flickering wildly, one second her own, normal visage, furious and grief-stricken. Then next, it was _Gaige's_ face staring ahead with dead eyes.

In between the two, for a surreal pair of heartbeats, nothing but a metal skull.

Once voice screamed through three faces as Cassidy shunted every scrap of power to the shuttle's engines. The _Red Tail_ bucked wildly, but stayed where she had stopped it, the forward thrusters pushing back against the massively powerful rear drive. The result was a pillar of fire that she aimed with lethal accuracy.

Engine fire raked across the flying swarm, incinerating them before they got near the shuttle. A handful of the monsters were smart enough to see the dangers and strafe around the inferno, trying to make a run on the shuttle's cockpit from the sides.

Axton caught that handful with his guns. In seconds, there was nothing left of the swarm.

He wasn't certain how long he kept raining fire down on nothing. He just knew that he eventually stopped, chest heaving and hands cramping around the fire controls.

It was the shrill cry of the alarm panel that broke through his bloodlust. It wailed on, unheeded as Cassidy scorched bodies to less than ash, pushing the engines far into the red as she tried to erase what she'd seen, what had been done.

"Cassidy!" Even shouting, Axton could scarcely hear himself over the bellow of the engines. " _Cass! Shut it off!_ "

She started abruptly, her hologram ceasing its disturbing roulette of faces and flashing back to her normal appearance. For a split second, she just stared at him as if he were a stranger. Then she seemed to notice the alarm and cut power to the engines.

The silence that filled the cabin was the loudest, heaviest thing Axton had ever faced. It was unbearable. It was unbreakable.

Finally, Cassidy's hands ran over the controls. The _Red Tail_ spun towards its sister shuttle and settled gently to the ground. "I...ought to check the _Osprey,_ " she said dully. "Determine if it was damaged."

_Say_ something _to her,_ an inner voice snarled. _You_ know _what she just screamed, you_ know _what she just_ lost! _Say SOMETHING!_

"Right." He unbuckled his straps mechanically. "I'll go see what's left of those things."

_Coward._

Axton didn't listen to the voice. He half-walked, half-ran to the machine shop exit, trying not to let himself think that they might be at the base of the ladder. That they would be staring up with adulation for his last second 'snatch victory from the jaws of defeat' arrival.

_Not that Gaige would ever admit she looked like that,_ Axton admitted with half a smirk. _And Salvador would just yell at me for stealing his kills-_

The airlock outer door slid open, the rush of ozone and exhaust making wince.

There was no one at the base of the ladder.

Axton banished his happy delusions. He coughed once at the acrid smell, then jumped out of the airlock. Cassidy had set the _Red Tail_ hovering about ten feet off the ground, an easy jump for his shields to cushion. Axton splashed down into the blue mud and slush, staring at the battlefield around him. A few stray creature parts were scattered across the snow. No intact beasts remained, to his infinite disappointment and barely controlled anger. The _Osprey_ hovered behind him at one end of a long furrow in the snow. The ironically name _White Picket Fence_ lay at the other end, its nose buried in the ground, sides riddled with some kind of damage.

Even now, with the rage at the deaths of his friends weighing heaviest, Axton felt a twinge of regret for the old ship. Part of him had hoped Gaige might actually be able to patch it up with Sarah's help. He'd imagined it briefly: all three of them working together in the shuttle bay, grease smeared on their faces, tools strewn about. Axton- _and maybe Salvador too, why the hell not_ \- making an exaggerated effort to loosen a bolt that was already spinning free, Gaige telling them off for being a pair of goofs, while Sarah watched with her tiny smile.

But now, it would never happen.

Axton's teeth clenched against the bile in his throat. He stalked across the trench, not even sure why he was making his way to the crippled transport.

A dull flash of red on the ground snagged his attention. Axton increased his pace, hoping against logic that it was at least _one_ of them-

He stared down at the ground, the familiar taste of enraged disappointment finding its way back into his mouth. What was left of a female face stared back up at him from a shattered helmet. Blue eyes looked unseeingly into the sky, the mouth twisted in a grimace of pain and fury.

The pain he could certainly understand. Half a dozen long silver claws, almost sabers, were broken off in her red armor. A heavy metal gauntlet was locked around one of the thing's necks, the dead warrior throttling the dead creature.

The other gauntlet and the arm it was attached to were missing.

Axton heard the splash of feet in the mud behind him. "Is that-"

"Not one of ours," he said in clipped tones. "One hell of a fighter from the look of this armor, though. She must've been from the Order." He barely glanced at Cassidy as she walked up to his side. "How's the _Osprey?_ "

"Flyable." The single word was flat, devoid of her usual spark. She knelt down, examining the armor with a detached air. "Needs fixing."

"Then let's do it," Axton growled, still staring down at the figure. "Let's get both ships back to the _Pearl_ now and fix them, because _then..._ " He looked at Cassidy, breathing with measured control, " _then_ we kill every last son of a _bitch_ responsible for this."

Cassidy turned her face up to him. She didn't exactly blink, but Axton had the impression her eyes flickered. "But- the bugs are-"

"Who gives a _damn_ about the _bugs?!_ " Axton roared. "We've handled _bugs!_ It was this one _here_ " he kicked the shattered armor in the ribs "that killed our friends!"

Now she just looked confused. "But-"

"She was _Order!_ " Axton yelled. "If she hadn't shown up, Gaige and Sal could've held off a _legion_ of these things! They're dead, and it's all" kick "their" _kick_ " _FAULT_!"

A throb of pain shot up Axton's leg with the last kick, but he ignored it. He grabbed Cassidy by the shoulders and hauled her up, staring into that always eerily familiar face, seeing echoes of a lost friend. "So here's what we do. We take our ships back to the _Pearl,_ we fix 'em up..." he took a deep breath "and then we blow the living _fuck_ out of the Order. _Got it?!_ "

She nodded rapidly, eyes wide.

"Good." He pushed her away. "Let's get moving."

Cassidy only nodded in response before turning away and walking slowly towards the shuttles. Axton followed a second later, limping slightly and too deeply wrapped in his own fury to see anything else.

* * *

[Double update!]   



	17. Actions and implications

Maya woke up.

She kept her eyes clamped shut, though. Even the dim light filtering in through her eyelids felt migraine-inducingly bright. Her left side ached like she'd been pounded on by a rampaging bullymong, and her mouth felt drier than the Dust at high noon. Bottom line, she was _not_ ready to face consciousness.

"Why are yours blue?"

Maya groaned. Even the soft little voice set her head pounding. _So much for falling asleep again._ "Please Gaige," she whispered, "not _now._ "

"Who's Gaige?"

Maya pried her eyes open with the greatest reluctance, wincing as the lights burned into her skull. Her rusted hinge of a neck turned a head made of boulders until searing eyes found the offending speaker.

Bright green, intelligent eyes stared into Maya's. "Who's Gaige?" Jennifer chirped again.

Maya groaned once more. _If it wasn't a little girl..._ "A friend of mine," she managed. Her eyes slid closed again, blocking out the cruel, vicious light. "Please let me sleep."

"You helped my sisters."

Maya's eyes popped back open, quicker than she believed they could. "What?"

"My sisters." Jennifer pointed at something behind Maya. "You promised to get them for me, and you _did._ "

"I did?" Maya combed through foggy memories. Purple light... an icy, blinding rage... an absolute refusal to let Angel die again...

And something _else_ , at the back of her mind.

Maya sat bolt upright... and tried not to shriek as a spear of pain skewered her temples. _That was_ not _wise._ Gritting her teeth, she pressed her hand to her temple, trying to will the room to stop its nauseating whirl. "What was it?" she whispered. "What am I forgetting?"

"You look _really_ bad."

Maya cast a dizzy eye toward the floor. The little girl was staring up at her, watching closely as Maya cradled her head. _How's that old saying go? Out of the mouths of babes?_ "I'll be fine." She tried to smile reassuringly, putting aside the troubling memory of the cargo bay. "I just need a little more recovery time." She reached for the medical console to start a new healing session.

"You're not going to do it yourself?"

She paused. "What?"

Jennifer pointed at Maya's tattoos. "You healed my sisters. You can heal yourself, too, right? Why not do it that way, instead of with the machine?"

"Because I can't right now," Maya said wearily. "My head hurts too much."

The little girl chewed her lower lip. "What... what if I did it?"

That managed to drag a microscopic smile out of Maya. "Not much you can do, little one. I just need time."

"No." Jennifer shook her head stubbornly. "I can _too_ help." She stepped to Maya's beside and grabbed her left hand. "I'll show you."

Maya looked down, startled. "What are you-"

The question died in her throat. Jennifer's face was screwed into a mask of concentration. Red, livid marks, almost like a sunburn, had begun to appear up and down her left arm. They twisted a pattern from her neck down to her fingertips, varied, complex, and intricate.

They were unmistakable as anything except Siren markings.

And then, to Maya's even greater amazement, the haze began to dissipate from her mind. Her eyes cleared, and her mouth stopped feeling like week-old, unwashed clothing. The migraine faded to a headache, then a subtle tension, then nothing but blissful relief.

Jennifer gasped and opened her eyes, releasing Maya's hand. "I'm sorry," she whispered between pants. "I can't do anymore."

"That's... I..." Maya squeezed her head, hard. Still no pain. "How did you _do_ that?"

The little girl shook her head, rubbing her arm gingerly. "I... just do." She whimpered slightly as she grazed the red marks. "It hurts more every time."

Maya frowned. She slid over and patted the bed next to her. "Come up here, Jennifer. Maybe I can help _you_ now."

Jennifer shook her head even more vehemently. "You helped my sisters, and I wanted to help you. You don't need to hurt yourself again for me."

"But that's just it," Maya said gently. "My powers _don't_ hurt me."

Jennifer looked up at her with wide eyes. "They don't?"

"Never in my whole life," Maya said, then reconsidered. "Well... not before today, at least. But I still think I can help you without hurting myself again." She held out her left hand. "If you'll let me."

Jennifer didn't hesitate more than a second or two. She quickly took Maya's hand and pulled herself up onto the bed. "Your hand's not all bloody anymore," she noted.

"I guess the healing table could handle _that_ , even if it couldn't stop a headache," Maya agreed. "Now let me see your arm."

Jennifer reluctantly offered the limb, wincing slightly as she moved it. "Please don't poke the marks. They sting."

"I can imagine," Maya said distantly. She ran her eyes up and down the girl's arm several times, examining the sunburn-colored pattern. _It's not quite mine,_ she noted. _Not Lilith's, either. And I'm not sure, but I don't_ think _it's Angel's._ She looked into Jennifer's curious eyes. "Jennifer, were you born with these powers?"

She shook her head. "I couldn't do it until the men used the purple stuff on me."

A creeping, awful, cold feeling slunk into Maya's stomach. "Purple stuff?"

Jennifer nodded. "They gave me a bunch of shots of purple stuff." She cast her eyes down. "I didn't like it. It burned on the _inside_ when they did it. Then I got sick."

"Sick?"

"Like the flu. Sweaty, shaky." She studied her fingers with shamefaced intensity. "I threw up on Zyri a lot," she murmured.

"Zyri?" Maya tried to remember. "The girl that held you in the cell?"

She nodded again. "After the men put me and my sisters back in, I got sick. My sisters were chained on the other end, so they couldn't reach me. Zyri tried to make me feel better, but I just got sick on her." She sniffed. "When the men came back for my sisters, they saw I was sick and just left me there."

Maya took an unsteady breath. "That's okay, little one. I'm sure Zyri doesn't blame you. It's not your fault."

_It's mine_.

She forced away the cold hatred and creeping guilt. There were more important things to focus on. "Let's see if I can make your arm feel better."

For the briefest of seconds, Maya flashed back to the warship's engine room and the intense pain that had come with her last attempt to heal someone. This time, thankfully, there was nothing like that. Just the normal surge of warmth and power through her body, and the pulse of light flashing from her tattoos.

Jennifer gasped as Maya's arm shone. "Yours are so _pretty!_ " She reached out with her free hand and rubbed Maya's markings. "They really don't hurt you?"

"They really don't," Maya promised. _I wonder..._ "A Siren's powers aren't supposed to hurt her."

"What's a Siren?"

_Thought so._ "A Siren is a woman with special abilities," Maya explained, trying to order her whirlwind of thoughts. "Nobody knows what makes a Siren, or where they get their powers." She traced her fingers over Jennifer's arm. The little girl didn't wince this time, not even when Maya applied a small amount of pressure to one of the fading red marks. "You can only tell a Siren by their blue tattoos."

Jennifer frowned and looked at her clear arm. "But mine are red. And they don't stay. And they _hurt_."

"Yes." Maya hesitated. "I... can't explain that. Not yet, at least." She glanced around the medical bay. Nearly a dozen soldiers filled the healing tables. A few were twitching or talking in their sleep, but most were showing the total stillness of mechanically induced healing comas.

As she looked behind her, she saw what she'd been looking for: three teenaged girls, all with the same dark hair and uncommonly identical features of triplets. Seeing their sleeping forms, sweeping relief warred with freezing rage and bottomless regret. "Those are your sisters?"

Jennifer nodded. "Clarice, Judith, and Alice. They haven't woken up yet." She looked hopefully at Maya. "Can you wake them up?"

Maya slipped off the bed and walked over to the closest of the three sisters. She quickly skimmed the holo-screens list of medical treatments, barely able to suppress a cringe as she read over the list over injuries. _Internal second degree burns? How does that even_ happen _?!_ "I think it'd be smarter to let the machines make your sisters better," she said. "They don't get tired, they don't make mistakes, and they can't get pulled away to defend the ship if we're attacked." Her mouth tightened. "The last thing I want is one of these girls to die because I had to run off and fight the Order."

A muffled, pained squeak whipped Maya's head down. Jennifer was staring up at her in horror, hands pressed to her mouth. "They're gonna _die?!_ "

_Oh, FU-_ "No no no no," Maya said hastily, dropping to her knees and grabbing Jennifer's shoulders. "They're going to be fine! They... they..." Maya hesitated, looking into those bright green eyes, now threatening to overflow with tears. _Small lies hurt the worst._ "They did suffer," she admitted, "and I'm so, _so_ sorry that you all went through it. But you're all alive, and your sisters _are_ recovering."

Jennifer stared silently at Maya, eyes still brimming with tears. "Really?"

"Really," Maya promised fervently. "Um... please don't cry?" she half-pleaded weakly. "I have no _idea_ how to deal with a crying child."

The little girl sniffled once and scrubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, but the wails Maya had feared didn't come. To her amazement, she saw a tiny smile appear on Jennifer's lips. "I thought grown-ups knew everything."

"We act like we do," Maya acknowledged. "Mostly, we're just faking it."

"But don't your kids ever cry?"

Maya shrugged. "I don't have any."

The admission seemed to shock Jennifer even more than the knowledge that adults didn't know everything. "Why not?"

"It's... complicated," Maya said, standing up. "For now, just believe me when I say not every grown-up becomes a parent."

"Don't you _want_ kids?"

The question rattled in Maya's head for a minute before she forced it into a corner of her mind and slammed the metaphorical door on it. "Which of your sisters is this one?" she asked, motioning to the closest healing table. "I'd like to know who's who when they wake up."

"Umm..." Jennifer stood on tiptoes, trying to get a clear look at her sister. "Alice," she finally decided. "She has the beauty mark under her eye."

"Alice. I see." In truth, Maya was more focused on the teen's outfit. It bore an eerie resemblance to Angel's, shiny black material overlaid with mechanical parts.

Also like Angel's, it left both arms bare, putting her marks on display.

Maya's stomach clenched as she took her first good, solid look at Alice's left arm. Its pattern was again different, but still uncannily similar to a Siren's markings. But as with Jennifer, these weren't organic blue tattoos.

These were vicious burns, far worse than the faint stinging patterns that had cropped up when Jennifer had used her powers. Even more disturbingly, Maya could see evidence that this was a vastly healed state- it looked like some of her body still had heavy bruising on it, as if she had been beaten along a Siren pattern.

The healing table's treatment log also showed deep-level tissue regeneration in progress. That meant at some point, there had been _third_ -degree burns on her body. _And over_ _much more than her_ arm _,_ Maya suddenly realized. _If these wounds cover all the same areas as my own tattoos do..._

Without her self-damaging healing wave in the engine room, coupled with immediate care in the _Pearl's_ medical bay, all three girls would be dead. Maya was absolutely convinced of it.

_Worth every throb of my head,_ she thought furiously. _I'd suffer a_ lifetime _of that pain before I let the Order destroy these girls like that._

Maya's mind snapped back to reality. "Jennifer, I have to go make sure everything is all right. Will you stay here and watch your sisters for me?"

"Okay." Jennifer watched as Maya pulled over a rolling chair and put it in the middle of the three sleeping teens. "Um... thank you for making my arm feel better, miss."

"My name's Maya," she told the girl. "I've never been _miss_ to anyone."

Jennifer's eyes went almost comically wide this time. "But kids aren't supposed to call grown-ups by their first names! It's rude!"

Maya couldn't help it; she smiled broadly, the innocence of it lightening her spirit fractionally. "I'll tell you what, little one. I'll give you special permission to call me by my first name, okay? That way, you're not being rude."

Jennifer grinned conspiratorially "Okay... _Maya._ " She giggled and stuffed her fingers against her mouth, and for a quick second, Maya caught a glimpse of a playful, happy child.

It made her heart ache.

Maya watched as Jennifer climbed onto the tall chair. She curled up on the seat, spinning it back and forth slightly to keep an eye on all three of her sisters. Her tiny face was serious again, eyes wide as she kept a determined watch on them, as if she feared blinking would make them vanish forever.

Another wave of rage, sorrow, and guilt flooded through Maya. _My fault. I killed Sophis and left. I didn't think about anything else, who might take over, what they might do, what might happen next. I just_ left-

She started to turn away, then stopped. She forced herself to look back, to watch Jennifer's silent vigil. Then she turned to survey the rest of the room, to burn the images of the wounded into her mind. _Okay. So you did that. Now you're partly responsible for_ this. _Don't cry over it. Go make it_ right. She grimaced. _Or at the very least, stop them from doing it to anyone else._ Face set into a determined mask, Maya walked quickly to the door and stepped out of the medical bay-

And into distracting chaos.

She looked around, mouth dropping open slightly in surprise. Over their month and a half of interstellar travel, Maya had grown accustomed to the _Pearl's_ empty, silent halls. The hum of the engines and whirr of its life support systems had been the most common noises for that entire trip. There had even been a few days that Maya hadn't even had to see anyone if she didn't want to. The ship had been that big and empty.

Now a rush of people made their way through the halls, filling them with noise and activity. Maya noticed about half of them were dressed in the simple ship's coveralls, helping to support those still in dirty rags and moving wearily.

And at the end of the hall, Sarah.

Maya felt a burst of relief and started towards her. _It's good to see_ she _got out on her own two feet, at least._

As she got closer, Maya noticed Sarah talking rapidly to a girl still dressed in her prisoner's garb. "How many empty cabins left?"

"More than enough, ma'am, but we're starting to send people to the other side of the ship." Maya quickly recognized the voice as Zyri, the girl who'd first answered Sarah in the prison cell. "I recommend doubling up a little closer to the medical bay- less distance to walk for the wounded, easier to keep track of everyone, and it makes sure there's at least one person to keep an eye on each other."

"Very well. Who still needs to be fed?"

"There's another dozen that just got out of sickbay. I've already assigned some of the earlier group members to get them cleaned up and a meal, in whichever order the newly healed personnel wanted," Zyri answered. "All that really leaves is the group currently healing-"

"And _you_ , apparently," Maya interrupted. Zyri's stomach had growled audibly at the mention of food. "How fast did you press the poor girl into service, Sarah?"

"Faster than I would have if she'd _told_ me she hadn't eaten," Sarah replied, her expression lightening as she saw Maya. "Glad you're up and around again."

"Good to be that way," Maya agreed. "Now, as for _Zyri_ here..."

"Yes." Sarah turned back, fixing the girl with a stern look. "Explanation, lance corporal."

Zyri blushed but held her ground. "I've got more strength left than most, ma'am, and meaning no disrespect to your crew," she nodded to Maya "I thought a little military structure might get things moving more quickly than having the masked man or ninja try to lead everyone around." Her eyes flicked towards the sickbay doors. "And... I wanted to be here when the sisters woke up."

"You'll be waiting a while, I'm afraid," Maya told her. "The triplets are going to need a lot more recovery time. Jennifer's awake and watching them, but-"

"Jennifer's awake?!" Zyri blurted. She looked quickly at Sarah and snapped a salute. "Permission to be excused, ma'am!"

Sarah smiled her faint smile. "Granted on the condition you take care of _yourself_ as well as the little girl."

"Aye aye, ma'am. I mean, yes, ma'am. I mean-" She stopped and took a quick breath. "Thank you, ma'am."

Sarah nodded and jerked her head. "Go."

Zyri started for the medical bay, threading her way through the line of people as quickly as she could without actually breaking into a sprint or trampling anyone. "Strong kid," Maya commented. "And a devoted friend."

"She loves those sisters like her own," Sarah said. "She told me about it. The triplets were in her training platoon on Theseus." She smiled. "According to Zyri, Clarice actually had a shot at breaking my old record for the planetary triathlon." Her face darkened. "Jennifer was visiting them the day Theseus fell."

"And the Order took them all." Maya felt sick. "We _have_ to destroy that base."

Sarah shook her head. "That will be up to you and your fellow Vault Hunters," she said. "I'm getting these kids back to Dahl."

"What? How?" Maya's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You didn't commandeer the ship while I was sleeping, did you?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't you have picked it out of my mind if I'd done something like that?"

Maya blinked as she realized something. "No." She looked around the hall, seeing the people wandering around her in a new light. "In fact, I can't hear _anyone's_ thoughts right now."

"What?" Sarah looked worried. "Did you damage your powers when you healed the girls?"

Maya shook her head. "I've already used my healing skills normally once, and nothing _feels_ wrong with me. I'll test my normal combat powers later, but I'm certain they're fine. It's just the extra power that seems to be gone."

Sarah frowned. "Where did it go?"

"I..." Maya hesitated. There was something there, at the back of her mind. Something she didn't want to think about. "I'm not sure," she finally said. "Look, let _me_ worry about my powers." She smiled, trying to lighten the mood. "I'm still waiting to hear if you've hijacked my ship."

Sarah gave her a long, steady look before answering. "Nothing so dramatic," she said. It was clear she was still troubled, but unwilling to push the matter. "Your pilot managed to get the cruiser's repair systems working. If all goes well, it can be flying again in a little less than two days."

"So you crew the heavily automated vessel with ex-POWs and run for the nearest Dahl base," Maya deduced.

"That's the plan."

Maya pursed her lips. "You must know that carries its _own_ set of risks. You'd be traveling for at least a month with an untrained crew in a stolen enemy warship. Even if the Order _wasn't_ going to be hunting you relentlessly just for _that,_ it'd still be a risky proposition."

"Believe me, I know," Sarah said grimly, "but there aren't any good choices. We stay, we're targets. We go, we're targets. At least out in open space there's a lot more places to hide."

"But here, you'd have us to protect you," Maya pointed out. " _And_ our powerful starship that already held its own against that very cruiser you're talking about flying out of here."

Sarah threw her an ironic look. "You know, your friends made a similar argument. I was almost tempted by it."

"Only almost?"

Sarah was silent a long moment, watching the people stream towards their temporary rooms, food, clothing, and a brief respite from the hell they'd already endured. "I can't let them be recaptured," she almost whispered as the line of people trickled to nothing. "I can't have delivered them from bondage only to let them fall back _in_ because I didn't get them to safety fast enough."

"Believe _me,_ I understand," Maya swore. "I care about protecting them just as much as you do."

"Then get your friends to agree to leave _now_ ," Sarah urged. "You can take us all in your ship. Dahl will send a _fleet_ out here to engage the Order. We can stop them _after_ we get these people to safety!"

"It's a month's flight time to the nearest Dahl base, and that's with _our_ engines," Maya countered. "Thirty days, right there. How long for your superiors to organize the type of attack fleet you're talking about? How long for that fleet to get here? By the time Dahl's ready, the Order's Si- uh, teleporting ships will have fortified this world beyond your ability to attack it."

"Then we'll hit Athenas," Sarah half-snarled. "If it's anywhere _near_ the Core Systems, we can mount an attack on it in a matter of _days._ Their little outpost here will be useless without an army supporting it."

Maya shook her head. "Athenas doesn't matter. The second the Order finds out we know they have a presence here, they'll fortify this planet so heavily we'll never get near it again. Then they'll hit Dahl so hard you'll think the war up until now has been going _well_ for you."

Sarah looked at Maya suspiciously. "You sound extremely certain of that."

"I am," she said resolutely. "Athenas is completely irrelevant. _This_ planet is the key to the whole war."

Sarah's eyes narrowed further. "What do you know that you aren't telling me?"

Maya sighed. "Meet me on the bridge in a half hour and I'll explain what I think I know. And bring Zyri, too. I'll need her to confirm a few things."

Sarah gave her a long, calculating look, then glanced at her watch. "Thirty minutes to the second."

Maya nodded and started for the bridge, hoping Cassidy was in her usual place at the command station. Digging through the data system of the warship wasn't exactly Maya's forte, but she had the feeling their pilot would be more than up to the task.

_Next flight_ anywhere _, I'm learning everything this ship can do._

* * *

[Next week will only be one chapter here, but also one over at The space between. Thanks for reading!]


	18. Know yourself

Over their long flight from Pandora, Maya had become accustomed to seeing Cassidy in the bridge command chair. She'd stay there for hours, staring through her holographic control screens to the infinite beyond, patiently guiding the _Pearl_ across the emptiness with expert skill. Maya had quickly come to trust the girl's skill at the helm and had developed full confidence in her flying abilities.

So she was surprised and slightly disappointed to find it wasn't Cassidy waiting for her in the dome. "Zero? What are you doing there?"

"Cass and Axton Left to recover Gaige and Sal," he said absently, focusing on the holoscreens around him. "She volunteered me."

She had to laugh. "Little sisters, huh?" Then she blinked as Zero's words sunk in. "Wait a second. Salvador and Gaige are _still_ gone, and two more of our number, including our best pilot, took off after them? With the Order still out there?"

"Correct assessment. The Order is _why_ they went," Zero pointed out. "We may need their strength."

Maya's breath hissed through clenched teeth. "Well, they'd better hurry back. I _guarantee_ we're going to need everyone."

Zero paused and turned the command chair to face her. "Why do you say that?"

"Because I think I know what the Order's doing," she said grimly. "I want to make certain before I tell anyone, though. Can you get into that warship's computer? I need some information from it."

Zero pulled up a new holoscreen and examined the readout. "The system is quite damaged, But we have access," he reported. "I should be able To download all their data." He glanced up at her. "What are you after?"

"Their medical records," Maya said, trying to ignore the twisting in her stomach, the icy fingers clutching around her heart. "I need to see what they were doing with those captives we freed."

Zero's hand paused. "I think we both know," he said softly. "I helped rescue the triplets From the engine room."

Maya let out a shaky breath, trying to control her suddenly racing pulse. "So you really _saw_ those wounds, then."

He nodded. "Quite distinctive, yes? Unmistakeable to those That see them often."

"Yeah," Maya agreed. "I'm just hoping we can get confirmation. What I think... it's so _big,_ Z. If the Order is _really_ doing what I _think_ they're doing, I need proof. _Actual_ proof, not just the likely extrapolations I've made watching some of our guests."

Another nod. "I'll begin the search." He manipulated a few holo-controls, establishing a linkup with the warship's computer. "I'm uncertain how quickly We'll get the data."

"If we get enough to convince everyone else what's going on, I'll call it a win," Maya said. "We can't let the Order keep doing this."

"They must be dealt with," he agreed evenly. "As we are the ones out here, That job falls to us." Zero turned to face her, the computer search running automatically behind him. His hand drifted to his sword hilt, feet braced on the floor. "How would you do that? With total slaughter again? Or some other way?"

Maya frowned slightly. Zero's voice was almost _too_ calm, and his posture... "Are you expecting trouble, Z? You look... nervous."

"An overstatement. I prefer the term 'prepared'," he said in the same measured tone. "Or at most, 'cautious'."

Her frown deepened. "What's wrong, Zero?" she asked, dropping to her armchair in the Hunters' circle of seats and spinning it towards him. "What's got you so on edge?"

`:| "You don't know by now? I expected you would have Felt it in my mind."

" _That's_ what you're worried about?" Maya breathed a little easier. "Don't worry, Z. Even if I could, I'd never just go rooting around in your brain."

"I'm more concerned by Your actions in the battle," Zero said evenly. It felt like his faceplate was boring into her. "Aren't you, Maya?"

"No." Maya's confusion grew stronger. "Why would I be?"

"You de- _faced_ a man," Zero said. "You should reflect on that, And why you did so."

She glared at him. "Zero, come on. I've killed God only _knows_ how many people by now. Don't you think we've got more important things to talk about than my most recent fight?"

" _No._ " Zero's voice rang with a certainty she'd never heard from him before. " _This_ is important. You were not yourself down there. _You_ need to know why."

"Not _myself?_ " Maya stared at him in disbelief. "Zero, look at what they've _done!_ We've got a ship full of women they kidnapped and" _don't say it, not yet_ "threw into a prison cell for weeks! They strapped three girls into an _eridium pumping system!_ It was Jack and Angel all over again, only _worse!_ "

He continued to stare at her. "You didn't know that When you phasewalked the _Grinder_ And tore them to shreds."

Maya opened her mouth to protest... and stopped. _He's right_."I... I still knew it was the Order of the Impending Storm." Her voice sounded confused and hesitant to her own ears. "The church-"

"The church that used you," Zero agreed. "That manipulated you, Denied you a life."

" _Yes,_ " Maya said savagely. "They did all that, and I hated them for it."

"So your old anger Warranted their massacre At your hands today."

"Exactly!"

He leaned forward. " _So why not back then?_ Why leave anyone alive When you left your world?"

"I..." She didn't know what to say. She swallowed, trying to work moisture into a mouth somehow drier than when she'd woken up. "Is there a point here, Zero?"

He waved his free hand, pulling up a holoscreen. Maya watched as three men ran across a battlefield, terrified and firing wildly in every direction. One suddenly halted, yanked off his feet and held in the air for a brief second before he exploded like a living grenade. The image swung around, and Maya saw someone stalking towards the other two, a blazing-eyed, nightmarish figure, light and fire coiling around-

_Is that..._ me _?_

Maya remembered the fight perfectly, remembered killing every single Order soldier she'd come across, but she could hardly believe the footage she was watching. Somehow, seeing the fight through Zero's eyes cast a light on how wildly out of control she'd been, on the total loss of herself and reckless use of a power amplification she didn't _begin_ to understand. The person on the screen didn't feel like the face she saw in the mirror every day, or even in her own memories. This was someone, some _thing_ else, a violent, savage creature, more vicious than she'd _ever_ been, filled with nothing but fiery hatred and loathing-

"Shut it off." The words came out stronger than she'd expected, halfway to a shout. "Shut it _off,_ Zero."

The image vanished, leaving only Zero staring at her intently. "So now you can see And understand my concerns," he said softly. "Who was that, Maya?"

"Not me." She leaned forward, holding her head in hands. "That... _thing_ up there... it wasn't _me._ "

" _There's_ the mind I know." :) Zero leaned back in his chair, posture relaxing. "Welcome back to your senses, Maya the Siren."

"I didn't realize I'd lost them," Maya said distantly, reflecting on her memories. "Not at the time. It felt... _right_ to annihilate them all like that. I had so much _hate_ in me, and I just..."

Zero nodded. "I saw."

Maya sank back into her chair, rubbing her forehead. "That rage, the joy at at the slaughter of defenseless enemies... that's _not_ _me_. I fight to survive and to test myself, not to obliterate people that don't have a chance."

"And when did that change?" Zero asked pointedly. "When did blind hatred become Your guiding principle?"

Maya exhaled slowly, trying to think. "My initial response is when I found out we were facing the Order of the Impending Storm. That _is_ when I started using powers I'd-" She stopped, eyes narrowing as she remembered. "No, that's _wrong_. I was using my powers in new ways ten minutes after we hit _orbit._ "

"I remember _that,_ " Zero said dryly. "Your biggest phaselock ever That crashed the warship." `:|  
"Was that the moment That rage took you heart? When we _arrived_ here?"

Maya thought back. Trying to remember her emotional state ever since they'd reached this new world wasn't easy, but she knew one thing for certain. "No. It was when my powers started acting up, but my anger..." She rubbed her mouth with her left hand, pondering. "When did I first-"

_Your hand's not all bloody anymore._

Maya pulled her hand away from her mouth as if her own skin had burned her, staring at her palm. The skin was flawless again, perfectly healed by the ship's technology. No blood, and no scars to mark where she'd repeatedly dug her nail in hard enough to injure herself. And the first time she'd been that angry...

"It was after Gaige told me about the base," she realized. "I was so furious that I hurt myself. I'd only ever done that once before." She looked at Zero. "They day I left Athenas."

He merely nodded. "And then what happened?"

"I tried to meditate," Maya remembered. "Only I... fell asleep, or had a vision, or _something_."

"And you saw the Vault Symbol?"

Maya looked up at him sharply. "How did you-" Her mouth twisted slightly as her brain caught up to her. "Krieg told you."

Zero shrugged. "He became concerned."

"Oh?" She smirked at him. "And just who made him worried about me, I wonder."

¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ "I shared _my_ concerns About your battle fury," Zero admitted. "I apologize."

"Accepted." Maya frowned, thinking back. "When was this?"

"After your slaughter Of the warship's crew and troops," he said. "You were with Sarah. Axton suggested Letting you take on the base." :/ "I thought that... unwise."

"Me now agrees with you," Maya said, nodding. "Me _then..._ yeah, she would've done it." She frowned again. "And she... _I_ could have. I had the power to do it, Z."

? "'Had'?"

"It's gone," Maya explained, sudden relief washing through her. "I haven't been able to feel anyone's mind since I woke up, and I'm betting that if I tried to phasewalk or phaseshift, I couldn't do it." She smiled grimly. "It also means we won't being seeing the blazing-eyed psycho again."

>:[ "Another puzzle," Zero mused. "Why did that power vanish? Simple depletion?" He leaned forward again, but he didn't seem worried this time. The action looked almost eager. "And the next question: If you had so much power, Why did you collapse?"

A strange, uneasy feeling twisted into Maya's stomach. "I... don't know."

Zero shook his head. "I believe you do. Think back to when you passed out. Why was that different?"

The knot in her stomach tightened another notch. _I don't want to. I don't want to look back at that moment. It-_

Her eyes widened. _It_ scares _me. The thought of trying to remember why I passed out...I'm..._ afraid _of it._

Maya's hands tightened into fists- not the injurious clenching of absent-minded anger, but the controlled tensing of determination. _The_ hell. _I am_ not _going to be frightened off by my own damn mind._ "Do me a favor, Zero," she said. "If I haven't moved in five minutes, do whatever it takes to snap me out of it."

? "Snap you out of what?"

She leaned back in her chair, taking a deep breath and trying to slow her pulse. "My meditation."

! "Meditation led to your First vision, Maya."

She gave him a look. "I _know_ that, Zero. It's why I don't want you to give me more than five minutes inside my own head." Maya tried to shove away her own misgivings. "Last time, I lost an hour and _something_ started twisting my mind. But despite the risks, I think it's the only way I can concentrate enough to remember whatever it is I've forgotten." She took another breath. "And figure out what in my own memories scares me so much I don't _want_ to remember."

Zero kept his gaze on her for a minute before nodding slowly. "Five minutes, no more." :] "My first attempt to wake you Might be gunfire."

"All the more incentive to wake up on my own," Maya said with a half-smile. She exhaled sharply one last time, the smile fading. "Here we go." She closed her eyes and focused her mind on the engine room, on the triplets, on her desire to save them-

**You are here to destroy my enemies.**

Maya clenched her teeth and tried not to gasp as the memory smashed against her consciousness. The voice was vast, powerful, blaring throughout her mind with the force of bomb. She tried to regain her mental balance-

**You will do as you are commanded.**

Rage slammed against her mind, an all-consuming, all-controlling _need_ for revenge, for death, for blood. Maya's breath caught, and she braced her emotions against the tidal wave of burning hatred that was trying to swallow her up. It thundered in her mind, trying to crush her will and break her spirit-

_No!_

Maya lashed out with every fiber of her being, hammering back against the immeasurable force of will that surrounded her. She thought she felt the lessening of the presence for a heartbeat-

**You will come to me.**

The sheer force of the command battered her soul, and she had a brief flash of an enormous blue crystal spire and a glowing purple cavern.

**Give me control.**

Maya felt the seductive lure of the light and stretched her mind towards it-

" _NEVER! ! !_ "

Her defiant roar exploded out of her mind and body at the same time with even more power than her first counterattack, shattering the suffocating pressure around her. The image of the cavern seemed to fracture-

Maya's eyes flew open, the sound of her shout still ringing in her ears and mind. She gasped raggedly, coughing at a sudden sharp pain in her throat. She must have _screamed_ in defiance. "Zero-!"

He was at her side in an instant, grabbing her shoulder and keeping her steady. "Maya, what-"

"How long, Zero?!" Maya gasped. "How long was that?!"

"Barely forty-five seconds," he said grimly. "How long did it feel?"

"No idea," she coughed. Her throat still hurt, but her breathing was easier. "What did you see?"

Zero shook his head. "My best description Is an explosion of light." His gaze focused on her tattoos. "You shook the whole _ship._ "

Maya pressed a hand to her face, trying to understand what she'd felt and seen. "There's something _here,_ Zero. Something on this planet." She dug her fingers into her scalp. "It tried to take control of my mind."

"You defeated it," Zero said. "You knew what it was doing, And threw it away."

Maya grimaced, thinking of the enormous pressure and endless rage that had almost infected her a second time. "I think I surprised it with how hard I could hit back. Fighting the same way again... it might not be so easy next time."

"But what is 'it'?" Zero wondered. "What could be so powerful As to take your mind?"

There was a long silence. "It's the Vault," Maya finally said, voicing what she knew they both had to be thinking. "Something inside the Vault is stretching out, trying to control me somehow."

"But why-" Zero stopped mid-sentence, palm slapping against his forehead. "The Order. All your rage at the Order Is truly this _thing's._ "

"No," Maya said, shaking her head. "Not _all._ " She looked at her left palm again. "Every time I dug into my hand, the day I murdered Sophis wasn't far from my mind. Before I came here, that was the only time I'd ever injured myself like that. It was the most betrayed, the most furious I'd ever felt in my whole life." She chewed her lip. "This... force, this thing, whatever it is, must have used my blind fury at Sophis to get into the rest of my mind and manipulate me."

" _And_ boost your power," Zero said grimly. "It wanted you strong enough To smash the Order."

"'You will do as you are commanded'," Maya repeated dully. "'You are here to destroy my enemies'."

"What?"

"It's what I heard when it tried to take my mind." Another piece of the puzzle fell into place. "No _wonder_ my healing powers didn't increase. This thing didn't give a damn about anyone else, it just..."

"It just desired Your _combat_ abilities," Zero realized. "No healing needed."

"It definitely wasn't happy when I tried to use the power boost it gave me in a way it hadn't intended," Maya said grimly. "That was the first time it spoke directly to me, instead of just manipulating me through my emotions. It didn't care about saving victims, it just wanted me-" She choked on the words. "It just wanted me to be its _weapon_." Anger- her own, cold, familiar anger- pounded in her temples. "It's the goddamned Order all over again!"

"Your advantage, then." >:] "You know how that story ends."

Maya looked up at him and smiled a thin, vicious, predatory smile. She clenched her fists, and her tattoos pulsed faintly. "I guess I do, don't I." Her face turned serious again. "Next question. Why would something inside a Vault care about a religious group and their work out here?"

"A valid question, Whose answer lies _in_ the Vault." Zero shrugged. "Ask the source itself."

"Right... about that." Maya took a deep breath. "Zero...I asked you once if you'd help me figure out more about my Siren heritage when we got here."

He nodded. "I recall that day."

"Well, forget I asked," Maya said bluntly. "Whatever this thing is, it _dies_. All I want is your help in killing it."

In the brief silence that followed, Maya had the impression Zero was too surprised to speak. _First time for everything, I guess._

"You know what this means," he finally said. "There _is_ a connection here. By killing this thing..."

"I'm giving up the first solid lead I've ever had on Sirens," Maya finished. "I know, and _I don't care_." Her face hardened. "This thing scrambled my mind and used me like a puppet. Even if it promised me every answer I could ever hope for, I'd still blow its brains out." She forced a smile. "Besides, there are plenty of Vaults out there. I'll find my answers, even if it's not here."

Zero watched her carefully for a moment before nodding. "So now it's a kill Instead of an interview." >:) "Right up my alley."

Maya gave a small laugh and stood up. "Thanks, Z. You've always been a good friend." She pulled him into a quick hug, then released him and stepped back. "So, that's the Order and some new Vault monster to deal with. I wonder if anything else on this planet wants to kill us."

Zero shrugged. "At least there's no skags."

She smiled lopsidedly. "I guess there's always that." She glanced around his shoulder, the floating holoscreen catching her eye. "Zero, look. That datapull just finished."

Zero turned back to the holoscreen and ran his hands over the controls. "The database is A shattered husk of itself," he observed, "But there _is_ something..." He trailed off as a stream of words flowed over the screen. His body tensed as he scanned the document. "You need to see this."

Maya moved closer to his side for a better look. "'Review and summary of Anthemusa Project Endeavor: Multi-Subject Propulsion Ehancement'?" She rubbed her mouth uneasily. "I don't like the sound of that."

>:p "Keep reading."

She did. Two paragraphs in, her expression was one of twisted disgust. She felt nauseous before she could get to the end of the third page. "Close it, Z. I've seen enough."

Zero shut down the holoscreen. His faceplate seemed more blank than usual, somehow. "Your hypothesis was right. How will you proceed?"

"We start by telling Sarah," Maya said grimly. "God knows we can't _hide_ this, not between the rescued prisoners and the warship."

>:/ "She will _not_ like this."

"She'd _better_ not," Maya growled. "If she does, there's a good chance her bosses up the chain in Dahl will _love_ it."

"Hm." Zero tapped his fingers on his belt. "What course of action is best If she _does_ like it?"

Maya bit her lips and exhaled slowly, staring out of the dome and thinking hard. "It can't happen, Zero," she finally said. "You're smart. You _know_ what would happen if what the Order is doing here leaked out to an organization like Dahl."

`:| "There's only one way To conceal something like this," Zero said flatly. "Assassination."

Maya thought for a long time before saying anything. "I don't think it will come to that," she finally said. "I've seen inside her mind, and I _felt_ her reaction when we rescued those girls. I have a good idea of the type of person she is, and I don't believe she'd let Dahl continue what the Order is doing."

:| "And what if you're wrong?"

Maya's silence lasted even longer this time. "We'd better make certain Krieg is up here, too."

* * *

[Next week's update will probably be about this length and may or may not include a Space Between update. Thanks for reading!]

 


	19. Sins of the Order

Krieg stared at Maya, confusion swirling in his visible eye. "Do you really expect the white knight to turn red queen?"

"No," Maya assured him. "And I really hope I'm right about about that. But if Sarah feels compelled to tell Dahl everything I'm about to tell _her,_ it could mean the end of meaningful life for god only _knows_ how many people." Her hands tightened. "I know we're not exactly fairy tale heroes, but I _won't_ be complicit in starting the galaxies down that road."

"The cold equation," Zero said. "One life to save billions more." He shrugged. " _If_ necessary."

Krieg growled low in his throat. "Metal head would fillet you for telling that story, No-face."

:| "True."

It was unspoken, but Maya could almost see the words _If he was able_ floating over Zero's head. "It _won't_ come to that," she insisted. "Sarah was as disgusted as the rest of us on that ship. She'll understand this has to stop _here._ "

Krieg motioned to the elevator. "Here's the chance to see if the queen is red or white."

Maya glanced over and saw the floor start to rise up. "Let me do the talking," she said quickly. "This is going to be difficult enough for them to hear without filtering it through metaphor or haiku first."

Zero's faceplate flashed up :\ and Krieg grumbled something under his breath, but neither said anything.

A tiny flash of regret sliced through Maya. She didn't want to deliver the news, either. _You_ _could have protested a_ little _._

The elevator finished sliding out of the floor, bringing Sarah and Zyri with it. The lance corporal had cleaned up and changed into a set of the blue ship's coveralls. Her eyes looked bright and alert. There were still shadows of pain and humiliation there, but they were muted by the relative safety around her and the iron core of determination that the girl clearly possessed.

_I hope she still looks that much better once we're done here._ Out loud, Maya asked, "How are the troops, Sarah?"

"Resting," she said. "Most are out of sickbay and into quarters. They're going to need a lot more time and treatment before they fully recover, though." She tipped her head towards Zyri minutely, a meaningful look in her eyes.

Maya nodded just as subtly. "We'll try to keep this short, but you've got to hear this." She offered the young soldier her best attempt at a comforting smile. "Hi, Zyri. How's Jennifer?"

"Washed, fed, and put to sleep," Zyri answered politely. "She's resting on a spare bed in sickbay." A slightly defiant look came into her eyes. "She wouldn't leave her sisters any longer than she had to."

"That's fine." Maya wished the claws on her heart would vanish, or at least loosen, at the news. "They'll need someone to watch over them. It'll take time before they fully recover from what the Order did to them."

"Yes, let's talk about that," Sarah said grimly. "I examined their injuries. I've never seen anything like it before, but you seem to know exactly how they'd been hurt." She folded her arms. "Enlighten me."

Maya sat down in her armchair. "Have a seat, you two. This... you're not going to like it."

"I haven't liked much of anything since I started my attack run on that damnable warship." Sarah half-sat, half-perched in Axton's recliner while Zyri sank into Salvador's battered seat. "What do you know?"

Maya took a deep breath. "I know what the Order wanted- _wants-_ with the people we rescued. People like Jennifer, her sisters..." she motioned to Zyri "...and like _you._ "

Zyri nodded. "I knew they had to be after something specific. They scanned everyone, but they only took a handful of us. You know what that is, ma'am?"

"Yes." Now that the moment had come, Maya's throat felt tight. Blazing anger at the Order, at _herself_ , surged behind her eyes, and for a split second, she felt the incredible pressure of the something _else_ at her mind. She exhaled, forcing herself to banish the anger, and the presence receded again.

Maybe Zero noticed her heart rate spike, or her blood pressure increase. Maybe he just knew her well enough to recognize what the tension in her face indicated. However he knew, he _knew,_ and he stepped in. "The Order wants them," he said quietly, "Because of their potential.

"They're latent Sirens."

Heavy silence filled the bridge for what felt like a long time. "Latent Sirens?" Sarah finally asked. "What do you mean, _latent_ Sirens?"

"We mean women that have the potential to _be_ Sirens," Maya said, shooting Zero a grateful look. Her throat had loosened, and her pulse felt normal again. Zero's revealing the truth seemed to have lessened its burden on her. "Six Sirens in the universe at any one time. When one of us dies..." she looked at Zyri, "...another comes into being somewhere else."

Zyri's eyes flicked to Maya's tattoos, and she was rubbing her own limb absently. "But... I'd barely even _heard_ of Sirens. How could I have a chanceto _be_ one?"

"I don't know," Maya admitted, shaking her head. "But I'm convinced you have that potential. You said yourself they _selected_ certain people to take."

Sarah's eyes narrowed. "Then you think the people the Order wanted have some kind of... Siren genetic marker?"

Maya nodded. "I don't just think it, I _know_ it. There's a collection of scrambled data we pulled from the warship's computers that details some of the medical experiments they were running." She locked her hands together. "More importantly, I've got two eyewitnesses to the fact that they found a way to _activate_ those latent Siren powers."

"What? Who?"

She raised her hand. "Me..." her finger pointed across the room "and _her_."

Zyri started as the everyone's focus shifted back to her. " _Me,_ ma'am? I... I don't recall seeing anyone using special powers."

"Maybe you didn't _know_ you saw it, but you certainly benefitted from it," Maya said firmly. "You and those nearest to you in the Order's prison cell." She folded her arms and stared intently at the girl. "Tell me, how much time did Jennifer spend cradled in your arms?"

"Quite a bit, ma'am." She sounded confused, but the answer came instantly. "She was a scared five-year-old, and I knew Jenny and her sisters. I held her as often as I could."

"All the way through the time she was sick," Maya pressed.

"Yes." Zyri's tone stubbornly loyal. "And long after, too. Are you saying I shouldn't have?"

"Not at all," Maya assured her. She smiled faintly. "Although you might want to tell Jennifer it's okay she got sick on you. She still feels guilty about that."

"I'll remember that, ma'am."

"What's your point, Maya?" Sarah's voice was controlled, but it was clear she wasn't happy with Zyri being questioned about her captivity.

Maya nodded. "The point is this: Jennifer fell ill after the Order infused her and the triplets with something, probably an Eridium based substance. That meant she was left behind when the Order took her sisters away." She looked intently at Zyri. "Which meant when her healing powers awakened, she was there to use them on _you._ "

"Healing powers?" Sarah stared. "You mean that little girl can heal people the same way you can?"

"On a smaller scale, but yes," Maya confirmed. "I'm guessing there were times she didn't want to be held, or at least favored her left side."

Zyri nodded again. "Every so often. Is that significant?"

"It's because she's a only _latent_ Siren," Maya explained. "I think the Order hasn't figured out how to properly activate Siren abilities. Every time she used them, they burned her." She watched sadly as Zyri's face turned stricken. "She was willing to take the hurt for _you,_ Zyri, to give you more strength than you would have had otherwise."

"How... how do you know this?" Zyri whispered. "How can you be sure that-"

"Because she did the same thing for me."

" _What?_ "

"Less than an hour ago, in the medical bay," Maya explained. "I woke up feeling like I'd gone through a fifth of Salvador's liquor. Jennifer used healing power to remove the symptoms. That's when I saw her marks, how they burned her, and she told me how it started after the Order experimented on her."

"So... all the time, she was _burning_ herself for me?" Zyri asked miserably. "Injuring herself so _I'd_ feel better?"

"You stop _right_ there, lance corporal," Sarah ordered sternly. "You will _not_ wallow in guilt over something you knew nothing about. She's a stubborn five-year-old, correct?"

Zyri smiled faintly. " _Extremely_ so, ma'am."

"Then if she hadn't wanted to do something, she wouldn't have done it. Accept her actions and move on, is that _clear?_ "

Zyri took a deep breath and visibly pulled herself together, shoulders straightening. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." She nodded to Maya. "All right, so you say the Order can force these latent Siren powers to the surface. My next question: why?"

Krieg gave a short, humorless bark of laughter. "Didn't you see the blue one turn the ground red and tear the vulture from the sky?"

Zyri's confusion was obvious, but Sarah seemed to catch Krieg's meaning easily enough. "Yes, but the Order hasn't _used_ any Siren supersoldiers in their ground campaigns _or_ space battles," she pointed out. "Just normal infantry and support combat robots. Even those drones we fought in the warship were new. That seems to indicate the Siren troops aren't combat ready, especially if using these imperfect powers injure the wielder."

"You're right, they haven't been using the latents as shock troops," Maya said. "They found a much, much worse use for them."

Sarah's face tightened. "What do you mean?"

Maya sighed."Sarah... these teleport drives of the Order's. Do they give off any light when the ships either appear or disappear?"

"Purple," Sarah said. "I had a good, up close look at it when my ship got dragged out here."

Maya looked around the room at her Vault Hunting comrades. "A blast of purple light that can teleport a starship. We've seen that before."

Krieg gave a low growl. "The rising action."

Maya nodded. "We knew a Siren that used Eridium to boost her powers," she explained. "One time, she used enough to teleport a mining ship I don't even _know_ how many miles." Her mouth tightened. "Now imagine if you had a Siren strapped into some kind of Eridium pumping system, constantly fueling her powers."

Horrified realization dawned on Sarah's face. "You'd be able to use her to teleport your warships anywhere you wanted," she snarled. "You think _that_ is how the Order has been jumping their capital ships in battle? By forcing these latent Siren captives of theirs to _teleport_ them?"

"It's exactly what I think," Maya said grimly. "Zero and I managed to pull up a handful of data from the warship about the triplets. It wasn't much, but it confirmed that they were being used as an experimental version of this system."

"You mean my friends were being used for some kind of _test drive?_ " Zyri's voice was shaky, her eyes glistening.

Maya felt sick just thinking about it, but Zyri's face demanded an honest answer. "The Order wanted to know if being triplets would enhance their efficiency as teleporters," she said. It wasn't easy keeping her own voice steady. "They thought the unique bond that tends to exist between that type of siblings might give them some kind of advantage."

Zyri dropped her face into her hands, her shoulders quaking.

Sarah put a hand on the girl's back, staring at Maya with fire blazing in her eyes. "And you said these powers _burn_ their users?"

"In the case of the triplets, almost fatally," Maya said grimly. "We've seen Eridium cause a Siren's body to regenerate, but it obviously doesn't work perfectly with the Order's methods." Her jaw tightened. "I... I don't know how long any of these latent Sirens could survive in that kind of system."

"So they need more." Sarah's breathing was shallow and rapid, her eyes narrow slits of hatred. "So they take world after world, kidnapping Dahl citizens and soldiers-" She cursed. "Theseus. Theseus was even _more_ of a power grab than we imagined. It had the medical records of nearly _thirty_ _billion_ people, including genetic profiles."

Maya winced. She hadn't known about that aspect of things. "If they wanted an easy way to find individuals with this latent Siren gene, that's certainly one way to do it."

"It doesn't end there," Zero mused. "Tell us about Theseus And its defenses."

Sarah frowned, but started talking. "I don't know much. I just know the planetary defense systems didn't function when the enemy fleet arrived. Most of the fleet think there were traitors that took down the whole system."

Zyri made a noise of dissent. "Respectfully, ma'am, no way in _hell._ " She picked her face out of her hands, looking over at Sarah. Her eyes were red but dry, while her tone was shaky but controlled. "I was going to be completing my secondary training on one of those defense platforms. I know a _lot_ about them and how they function. Even a hundred traitors couldn't have powered everything down so easily. They must have hacked the defense systems and shut them down remotely."

" _That's_ impossible," Sarah said. "There isn't a computer system in existence powerful enough to do that."

"But a Siren _could_ ," Maya pointed out. "We knew one that routinely did that kind of hacking."

"Angel?" Sarah guessed. "Axton mentioned something about her."

"Angel. She was tapped into Hyperion's entire information network. If she had any kind of a datalink to something, she could hack it."

"So... you think this Order forced one of these latent Sirens to hack Theseus' defenses?" Zyri asked. "Shut down the entire planetary grid so they could take the world?"

Maya nodded. "That one's a little more conjecture, but I'm fairly certain I'm right." She exhaled sharply. "If I'm right, we'll be able to find confirmation in that base of theirs."

"The base? What does the base have to do with anything?"

Maya laced her fingers together and stared evenly at Sarah. "How much do you know about the Vaults?"

"Only as much as anyone else. Why?"

"Because from our experiences as Vault Hunters, we've seen firsthand there's some kind of connection between Sirens and the Vaults," Maya explained. She waved a hand, and the hologram showing the planetary Vault symbol flashed into the air. "Well, there's a Vault symbol made of _mountains_ on this rock, I've been hearing a voice in my head that wants to control me, and that voice can boost my powers. Whatever the connection between Sirens and the Vaults, it's stronger here than anywhere I've ever heard of, maybe stronger than anywhere in the _universe._ "

She turned her intense gaze back to Sarah. "I think their Siren production efforts are centered _here._ On this planet, in that base." She looked at Zyri, a pained expression on her face. "I think your group was sent here to become the Order's next batch of Siren weapons."

The girl swallowed nervously. "Do... do I want to know what that would have meant for us?"

"You saw it," Maya said darkly. "You saw how badly injured Jennifer's sisters were. That kind of abuse is happening on god only _knows_ how many Order ships, maybe all of them." Her stomach tightened as she focused on Sarah's expression. "We can stop it. We _have_ to stop it, here and _now_."

Sarah rubbed her mouth. "How sure are you that this is their only Siren... _factory_?" She spat the word as if it were poison.

Maya frowned as she considered that. "I hadn't doubted that it was." Her gloved hand traced lightly over her temple. "I'm not sure why."

"Psychic suggestion?" Zero offered. "Something absorbed from the force Contained in the Vault?"

"Maybe," she agreed. "We could try to find confirmation of that in the warship's computers. We might even be able to scavenge the data from the base itself."

"No."

They all glanced at Sarah, startled. "Excuse me?"

"I said no, we're not scavenging data from that facility." Sarah stood and began to pace, hands wrapped tightly on her belt. "We're not doing anything to that place other than razing it to the damn _ground,_ other than salting the soil for good measure." She shook her head and dropped back into Axton's chair. "You were right, Maya. You were always right. That base _has_ to go, along with every scrap of knowledge within, and _we're_ the only ones I trust to do it."

Maya looked at Zero and Krieg, cautiously hopeful skepticism in her chest. "I'm extremely relieved to hear you say that." She caught the look in Sarah's eye- "And a little surprised, I admit."

Sarah smiled without a shadow of amusement. "You thought I might want to data-mine the place. You thought I'd want to tell Dahl that there's a way to force Siren powers out of people so that we could use them the same way the Order is."

"We'd discussed the possibility," Maya said quietly. "I thought you'd show yourself to be better than that."

Sarah snorted. "I'm loyal to Dahl, but I'm not stupidly or even blindly loyal." Her right hand traced absently over her left side. "I know there are elements in Dahl's command structure that are... less than honorable, to put it mildly. Those elements would do _worse_ than the Order if they acquired this information." Her face twisted. "If Dahl science divisions got ahold of this Siren research, they'd gut our own forces and colonies looking for people with the Siren genetic profile, then turn them into subhuman weapons of war."

Her eyes flicked over to Zyri's agonized face. "I won't let that happen. I won't let those countless lives be destroyed, and I won't let _Dahl_ be destroyed by the Order's toxic work."

Maya smiled in relief, her heart lighter than it had been for what felt like weeks. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that."

Sarah glanced at Zero and Krieg, and she gave Maya a knowing look. "I just might, actually." She took a short, sharp breath. "That brings us back around to the original problem, though: how the _hell_ are we going to take out that base? Formidable as your team and ship are, we simply don't have the firepower to take that place out."

"Not with the shields up," Maya agreed. "But Cassidy and Zero broke the Order's signal encryption once. Between their skills and Gaige's technical genius, I think we can put that warship's database to good use."

"Hack their shields," Zyri said with a note of grim amusement. "Crash _their_ defenses this time."

Sarah nodded slowly. "It's a start," she said. "But we should have a backup plan, just in case."

Maya glanced at Zero. "There... are a couple riskier options." She glanced at the holographic Vault symbol. "I'd rather not go into detail until we've got everyone back, though."

"Fair enough," Sarah said. "In the meantime, I'll see what the Dahl troopers can do to help."

? "I thought you did not Want to send these young fighters To face the Order," Zero pointed out.

"I don't, and I won't," she said firmly. "But there's other ways we can pitch in." She turned to Zyri. "Patel, I want you to start going through your squadmates. See if there's anyone with starship combat experience. The Vault Hunters do their best fighting on the ground; if we can man the ship for them, it'll free them up to act that much more. Then I-" she stopped as she noticed the odd looks she was getting. "What? What is it?"

"Um..." Zyri raised her hand awkwardly. "Excuse me, ma'am, but... who's Patel?"

A stunned, horrified look appeared on Sarah's face. She sank back into her chair and pressed a shaking had to her eyes. "Patel... she was one of my soldiers." She started to look at Zyri, but stopped before her head had turned more than a fraction. "For just a second, I..." She coughed and cleared her throat. "My apologies, lance corporal. Please carry out my order."

"Aye aye, ma'am." Zyri walked quickly to the elevator. As the lift slid below the deck, Maya caught a glimpse of the painfully sympathetic expression on her face.

Maya wasn't certain how long the silence lasted. She was just glad when beeping from the communications system broke it.

"The shuttles return," Zero reported. Even he sounded glad for the distraction. "Axton is calling in now." He keyed the radio. "That took you a while."

[Save the banter, Zero.] Axton's voice crackled over the radio, strangely harsh and bitter. [We need to get to work.]

"Ax?" Sarah's glanced at Maya, her face worried. "What's wrong?"

[It's... I'll explain when I see you. Meet me in the armory. We're gonna need a lot of guns.]

Maya's stomach twisted as the comm fell silent. "That didn't sound good."

Zero shrugged and headed for the elevator. "How bad could it be, Compared to everything else On this mad planet?"

* * *

[So yes, slightly shorter chapter this week. Apologies for that. Next week will be more lengthy; whether that ends up one chapter or multiple I haven't decided. Anyone have a preference on that kind of thing?]

[Thanks for reading!]


	20. 7 - 2 = 5

Maya's sense of uneasiness increased with every step towards the armory. Axton's tone and his refusal to say what was going on wasn't like him. Zero hadn't even been able to raise Cassidy on the radio.

The whole situation was enough to set her on edge, and she wasn't alone in that feeling. Krieg's shoulders were rigid as he walked next to her, and Zero's stride was faster than usual. Maya didn't know Sarah as well as she knew the others, but the way her gun hand kept running over her pistol grip certainly didn't indicate inner peace.

"Was Axton ever this mysterious about things when he was with y- Dahl?" she asked, trying to sound innocently curious. _Please say yes._

"Only on good occasions," Sarah said. "Never about something that needed guns." Her thumb lingered on her pistol's hammer. "I was hoping this was something he'd picked up from his time with you."

Maya grimaced. "Oh, great."

Zero stepped past her as the door to the armory came into view. "Time to learn the truth." He tapped the door release.

For a second, Maya was surprised by the bright red exclamation point that flared over Zero's faceplate as the door slid open. Then she reached his side, looked into the armory, and her mouth dropped open in her equivalent expression.

Axton was already in the room, tearing through the inventory like a man possessed. The floor was littered with discarded or rejected equipment. As they watched, Axton snatched a rifle out of its storage rack, examined it for a heartbeat, then hurled it against a wall. "Goddamn _worthless!_ "

"Axton!" Maya finally managed to track down her voice. "What are you _doing?_ "

"Arming up!" he snarled. "Assuming I can find anything worth _using_ in this damn junkyard!"

Maya glanced at the others and saw they looked just as baffled as she felt.

"Here's a different question, then," Zero asked. " _Why_ are you arming?"

"So we can do what we should've done in orbit!" he yelled. "So we can go kill every last Order _bastard_ on this goddamned rock!"

Maya didn't know what to think. She'd seen Axton in a temper before, but never this kind of blind rage. The only time she could think of that even came close had been a little less than two months back. He'd yelled at everyone for talking about varkid recipes-

"Where are they, Axton?" Zero's voice was icy. "Where are Gaige and Salvador?"

With a roar of fury, Axton toppled an entire gun locker to its side.

Maya felt something clench in her chest. "Axton...?"

"They're gone." His fists were balled up at his sides, his body taut with barely controlled anger. "Cassie and I got there just in time to see it happen."

"See _what_ happen?" Sarah demanded. "Axton, the _Fence_ \- did it-"

He laughed bitterly. "No, it didn't blow. That would've been what I'd expected, but no. Nothing so clean."

>:( "So." The flat, dead way Zero spoke sent a shiver down Maya's back. "The Order, then."

Fury swelled in Maya's chest. "Of _course_ it was the Order," she snarled before Axton could say anything. "It's _always_ the Order. They just can't stop _taking_ from me. My life isn't enough, now they take my _friends-"_

A surge of black hatred cascaded through Maya's mind, and she felt pressure slam against her consciousness. Her lungs felt frozen, her body refused to move, and she could feel the iron grip of something _else_ at her consciousness. Images flared through her mind's eye: a cavern underground, laced with glowing blue and purple crystals, a long canyon lined with blue rocks and trees. She felt an unwilling lethargy seep into her mind, stealing her focus and will. At the same time, a surge of power filled her body, and she became faintly aware of a tiny sound. It was like a thousand whispers pitted against a booming voice-

_Let my sisters be okay, let my sisters be okay-_

_I want to go home._

_I have to do what I can to stop this._

_This is what Dahl is all about! Time to prove I'm worth it!_

_I won't be the weakest here, I won't fail anyone!_

_They need pilots? I'll show 'em what a Dahl pilot can do!_

_Revenge is my new challenge._

_Mama..._

_No more of this. No more death and pain because I'm not there!_

_He'll kill himself if I don't watch out for him._

Maya clung to the swirl of voices, to the hopes, fears, the silent thoughts and determinations that even the people thinking them weren't truly aware of. It was all she had to hold back the swarming blaze of images and massive pressure against her mind, the only thing she could use to-

 _Don't give up, Maya. If I didn't go rampaging across the ship after seeing those girls, after hearing_ this, _you can fight back_ now _. Salvador would want you to stay yourself._

This voice was stronger than the others. It was buried the same way, a trickle of thought barely registered by the conscious mind, but powerful enough to divert blind hate into a righteous fury. Maya focused on the closest voice and used its strength to stretch out to the others, to the will and belief and the endless, silent courage of those that would not yield to anything... and she felt the invading presence at her mind fade away.

Gradually, she became aware of a voice again, but this was sound filtering through her ears, not slipping in through the cracks of her mind.

"-ell just happened?!"

"A complication. We can explain it later."

Maya blinked, trying to clear the haze from her eyes. She tried to focus-

-and realized she was staring at the floor.

"Maya? Is it you?"

She shook her head blearily, feeling hands on her shoulders, supporting her in a kneeling position. "Why am I on the floor?" Her voice sounded muddy and confused to her own ears.

"The stagehands just cut your counterweights." Krieg's growl carried a harmonic of worry. "No curtain call."

Axton had dropped to one knee, staring at her with concern on his face. "What's going on, Maya? What the hell _was_ that?"

She groaned as her head gave a throb. "Me being careless."

"It was the thing in the Vault," Zero said with grim certainty. "It tried to take you."

Maya nodded and pushed herself off the floor. "Almost got me, too." She shook her head, embarrassed frustration leaking into her expression. "Stupid, stupid, _stupid._ I _knew_ anger was its way in, and I still-"

She cut her words off. "Gaige and Salvador." She looked at Axton, trying desperately to hold her emotions in check. "You... you said..."

Axton straightened up, nodding. "They're gone, Maya." The concern faded slightly as anger swirled back into his features. "Cassie and I got the whole thing off the _Osprey's_ sensor logs. An Order soldier in power armor showed up and tried to take Gaige and Sal. They were holding their own, but..." his mouth tightened. "Some kind of local animal attacked and screwed up everything. It jumped on them and... blew itself up."

"An _animal?_ " Maya clung to disbelief, to grief- anything to hold back the all-too-dangerous fury that threatened to creep up on her again. "You're telling me after everything we've gone through, it wasn't even the _Order_ that killed them?"

"Oh, the Order played a part," Axton growled. "Their soldier is the one that distracted Gaige and Sal at just the right moment. If they hadn't-" His teeth clenched. "They're all gonna _burn_ for this."

"And a lot of other reasons," Sarah agreed darkly. "You'd better listen to what your team found out."

"Hold on a minute." Zero looked around the armory as if he'd just noticed something. "Where is my sister, Axton? Why isn't she here?"

"She's fixing the shuttles," he said. "The _Red Tail_ has engine damage, and the _Osprey_ is lost some of its hull plating. We'll need both-"

"You left her _alone?_ " Zero snarled. "Do you know who she just _lost,_ You self-centered fool?!" He turned and started for the door-

"Hold it!" Axton was across the room in the blink of an eye, his hand clamping down on Zero's shoulder and spinning him around. "She's doing her job," he said fiercely. "You let her do that and get _yourself_ armed up."

Zero's head turned towards his shoulder. "There's that hand again," he said quietly. "It seems to have its own mind At your worst moments."

Maya caught the flush of embarrassment that crept up Axton's neck. She also felt like the temperature dropped ten degrees. Zero hadn't made a threat or moved a muscle, but somehow his helmet suddenly reminded her of the Grim Reaper's hood.

Sarah cleared her throat, cracking the sudden frost in the air. "Forgive me for asking this on your own ship, but would the rest of you excuse my husband and me for a minute?" She crossed her arms and stared dead into his eyes. "We need to talk."

Now it was anger that colored his face. "Sarah-"

"No problem," Maya interrupted quickly. "Zero's right, we should look in on Cassidy." Hardly thinking about it, she reach for Krieg's hand and entwined her fingers with his. "None of us should be alone right now."

They filed into the hall, Maya feeling a little like she was leading a drunk man. Krieg hadn't made a sound when she took his hand. The most reaction she'd felt was a slight tension in his arm, as if he couldn't bring himself to tighten his grip.

Zero, however, was almost a blur of motion. The armory door had barely clamped shut before he had started for the elevator. "I'll catch up to you," he said quickly. "Cassidy needs someone now."

"I think we all do," Maya agreed dizzily. "Or at the very least a drink."

Zero stopped, sighed, and shook his head. "It's not so simple." He turned back to face them. :'( "We lost friends today, But she just lost her mother."

Krieg's chest rumbled as Zero's statement finally provoked a response. "Chaos lass hatched the clockwork nightingale!"

Maya's eyes widened. "She thought of Gaige as her _mother?_ "

Zero nodded. "Since the beginning," he sighed.

"Oh, god..." Maya struggled to hold back another pulse of anger. "Do you want us to go with you?"

He shook his head. "I don't know her state. I should go to her alone, At least to start with."

"You're sure?" Maya asked doubtfully. "This feels like the kind of situation you call in backup."

:/ "I probably will," Zero admitted. "I'm not very good with grief." He glanced at the elevator. "I'll call if I must." Then he was gone without waiting for an answer.

Maya sighed and looked up at Krieg. "Alone at last," she offered, smiling sadly.

Krieg made an uncertain noise at the back of his throat and held up their connected hands. "If you wanna play lone wolf-"

"No." Maya's fingers tightened around his. "I kind of... need someone around right now." She rubbed at her temple with her free hand. "I'm not good at handling grief, either, and it's all I can _let_ myself feel right now."

Krieg scratched his head. "I don't know what a blue moon means."

Maya traded holding Krieg's hand for looping her left arm through his right. She started walking aimlessly down the hall. "I don't _get_ sad, Krieg. I get angry, then I get even. It's what I've always done."

"It's what all Safe Trackers do!" Krieg proclaimed, matching her slow pace. "Feed the fire, salt _their_ wounds!"

"Except this time I can't _allow_ myself the luxury of anger," Maya said bitterly. "You saw what happened when I did. The Vault creature took another run at my mind and almost captured me." She stared up at him. "In fact... I think _you_ helped pull me back."

A furious snarl twisted out of Krieg. "If the monster in the closet wants to try and pull you in, we'll _both_ jump through the door!" He punched the air with his loose arm. "We've killed boogeymen before!"

Maya smiled wanly at him. "Have I ever said thank you for always being on my side?"

"I can hear things even a dog can't." Krieg managed to pull off a light-hearted sounding growl. "Don't change frequencies for me."

"I'm serious," she insisted. "You've supported me since the day I _met_ you. In all that time, I don't think I've ever said how much I appreciated it." Maya stopped walking and pulled her arm free. She reached up and took his face in her hands, staring up into his eye. "Thank you, Krieg. For fighting beside me, for keeping me safe, and for always believing in me."

Krieg's body tensed. For a second, Maya thought he was going to pull away from her touch. But to her surprise, he reached up and covered her left hand with his right and pressed his face more deeply into her palm. A low, contented rumble worked its way out of his throat, and she almost swore his eye looked watery.

Then he let go of her hand and took a small step backward, pulling free of her grasp. "Is this just because a tiger was behind the door?"

Maya shook her head. "I'm not saying it because we lost people today. I'm saying it because you deserved to hear it from me a _long_ time ago. I was just too closed off to tell you." She sighed, folded her arms, and leaned against the wall. "I liked Salvador. Did you know that?"

Krieg's shoulders hunched. "I saw you lugging a hidden compactor."

"Hidden-" Maya laughed softly as she made the word connection. "A secret crush. Yes, that sounds about right." She looked at him closely. "So if you knew I was crushing on him, you must have known the reverse was true."

Krieg sighed and nodded, but said nothing.

"Did you ever wonder why we never acted on it?" Maya asked quietly.

He shook his head and remained silent, not looking at her.

"For the same reasons I rejected your advances on Pandora."

 _Now_ he was looking at her. "Two rivers blocked by the same dam?" He grunted once. "Big wall."

"The biggest," Maya agreed. "It's an old pain, Krieg, and it's one I can't tear down easily. It's also something I can't go into right now; too many risky emotions to dredge up." She stepped closer, staring into his face. "But when all this is over, I'd like to try breaking that dam. _If_ you'll help me."

Kreig was quiet for a long time. Then he reached up, stretching his hand hesitantly towards her face. "My pickaxe is your weapon," he growled, "if you really want to hire the road crew."

Maya smiled at him and pushed his hand to her cheek. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his rough skin on her face.

Krieg's hand slid off her cheek as she felt his arms close around her, encircling her body. She pressed herself against his chest, trying to draw comfort from his warmth and strength, feeling as much as hearing the beat of his heart.

 _The Order won't take_ him _from me, too._ Maya pulled Krieg closer. _He's m-_

_**At last.** _

Maya gasped and shoved herself back from Krieg, her hands flying to the sides of her skull. She heard him yell something, but the words were lost. A massive presence, all-encompassing and powerful, washed around her mind, and she felt something fill her consciousness.

It wasn't rage. It wasn't hatred. It wasn't even the subtle, sneaking attempts of something trying to worm its way in through some other part of her mind. It was a blast of emotion, willingly shared and totally open to her.

Pure satisfaction.

* * *

[That's not all, folks!]


	21. Not good with grief

Cassidy was facing away from Zero when he walked into the hangar. She was staring at the docked shuttles, a pair of holoscreens floating in front of her with the system readouts and repair status listed across them. She worked the controls methodically, efficiently, but without the usual rapid, playful dance of her fingers through the light panels.

Zero knew Cassidy's senses were as sharp as his own. She should have been aware of his presence before he even opened the hangar door. He was extremely disturbed to get within ten feet of her without any sign of realization he was there. "Sis."

She didn't jump, but Zero caught the slight hitch in her movements at the sound of his voice. "Hello, brother. I'm back." She kept working, not turning to face him. "I'm also busy running repairs. We'll need both craft fully capable for-"

"Stop it, Cassidy." Zero rested a hand on her shoulder.

"But Axton-"

"Axton was wrong to task you," Zero said firmly. "The repairs can wait."

Cassidy's hands trembled over the controls. "I don't _want_ to walk away," she whispered. "What's waiting if I don't distract myself? Sorrow? Savagery? Fiery fury and reckless rage?"

Zero shrugged. "Works for most of us."

Cassidy didn't say anything for another few minutes. "I've never dealt with death," she finally said. Her voice was soft and pained. "I've seen countless kills in mom's memories, watched a multitude of murders in movies, read about any number of fictitious fatalities." Now she turned to Zero, her face streaked with misery. "I never knew being the survivor hurt more than being the slain."

To Zero's surprise, she threw herself against him, locking her arms around him in a vice-like embrace. "Don't die. I can't lose the last of my family."

 _Hugged twice in one day. This is becoming habit._ Zero started to circle his arms around her, but broke off and awkwardly patted her back. _Say_ something, _moron._ "I am eternal. Death will never capture me. My skills exceed his."

"Bold words, brother." Her arms tightened. "I'm sure Salvador thought something similar. I _know_ Mom thought herself immortal."

"All teenagers do," Zero agreed. "I'm so sorry, Cassidy. You deserved more time."

Cassidy's grip slacked, and she took a step away. "I wish I had been with her," she whispered. "I want to rewrite the way it was. I want to save her."

"All wish for such things When they have lost someone close," Zero said gently. "But it's beyond us. What _is_ important Is the action you take next." He stepped to her side and put his arm around her shoulder. "You know what she'd want."

"To _live,_ " Cassidy said, her voice turning fierce. "To not have died beneath the body of a bug. To play a part in what happens next, to smash the Order's system-"

"For you to let go."

Cassidy stiffened.

"Gaige was not about revenge," Zero said. "She was about _fun._ Life delighted her, Machines fascinated her, And battle thrilled her. She would not want you To fall to hate and loathing Now that she is gone." He looked at her tormented, grief-stricken face. "You're lucky, you know. The memories within you Are more than _I_ have."

"They hurt," Cassidy whimpered. "I _want_ to be able to watch them, but I also can't stand the thought of looking through them."

"Then wait for a time That you can take joy in them." Zero shrugged. "Or erase them all."

She jerked away from his touch, staring at him in horror. " _Erase_ mother's memories?!"

"They're causing you pain," Zero pointed out. "Wouldn't it be easier If you removed them?"

"Easier, but not _better_!" Cassidy protested. "I don't _want_ to delete my mom!"

"So you'll live with hurt?" Zero asked calmly. "With the constant pain of loss As your companion?"

"Yes!" She glared at him, fists working furiously. "I won't shy away from suffering if it means severing a part of myself! How can you seriously _suggest_ such an action?!"

Zero crossed his arms. :] "I suppose I can't."

She stared at him, unblinking, eyes furious... and then her expression cleared. "You...you just..."

"Showed you how you really felt," Zero said. "At least about Gaige."

Cassidy sat heavily to the deck, hands propped up on her knees. "You're a _bastard,_ brother." She glared up at him, but without much fire in her gaze. "There had to be a better plan than provoking me."

"There probably was," he conceded. "But I'm afraid 'comforting' Isn't a strong skill."

"Clearly." Cassidy sighed and stared at the floor. "I'm going to miss her."

"You're not alone there," Zero agreed, sitting next to Cassidy. "I suspect we always will, At least a little." :( "But for the most part, I'm glad I got to know her. She was a great friend."

The sat in silence for a time, the only sound the whirring of maintenance drones. "So what _is_ waiting for me?" Cassidy finally asked. "Vengeance?"

"We _do_ have to stop The Order's machinations," Zero said firmly. "And we'll need your help." He twirled his sword hilt around his fingers. "Whether that action Is justice, vengeance, murder... That depends of you." He rose and offered his hand. "But you're not alone. We will all undertake this Mission together."

Cassidy looked at his hand, then nodded and pulled herself up. "For the living," she said firmly. "We can mourn Mom and Salvador when we stop the Order's slaving."

:\ "It's more-"

The deck shuddered under Zero's feet, strong enough to set him staggering. A blare of alarms filled the air. "What is _that?!_ "

Cassidy had already pulled up a small holoscreen. Her eyes skimmed over the sensor readings. "Some type of energy surge surrounding the ship!"

Zero's body tensed, his hand tightening on his sword hilt. "Has the Order come knocking?" >:] His voice was almost hopeful, his own desire for revenge surging at the thought of his lost friends. "Did they save us time?"

"It doesn't look like the Order," Cassidy said, confused. "I'm not seeing any ships. Let me fire up a video feed-" She broke off as the image flashed up, staring at the picture in disbelief. "What in _all_ the worlds?!"

* * *

[One to go.] 


	22. One woman's motivations

Axton struggled to keep his temper in check as he glared at Sarah. "The hell was that all-"

" _Ten-hut, commando!_ "

The authoritative whip crack of Sarah's voice snapped him to attention almost instantly. His mind caught up to his body a second later and reminded him of the facts. "Hey, what do you think-"

"I didn't give you permission to speak, Sergeant!" she barked. "You _will_ be silent until I say otherwise!"

Ten years of Dahl experience- and almost as many years as Sarah's husband- clamped Axton's mouth shut, despite all the logic in the world being on his side. Then his own sheer stubbornness kicked in, unfreezing his speech. "Will you _stop_ that already?!"

Sarah folded her arms and looked at him coolly. "That depends. Are you ready to listen, or am I going to have to make you run laps around your own ship first?"

"This ain't the time for jokes," he growled. "It's time to do what we've been talking about since we picked you up: hit the Order with everything we've got!"

"And if you'd taken the time to _talk_ to your friends for ten seconds, you'd know we'd decided to do just that," Sarah said dryly.

Axton's mouth dropped open. " _What?!_ When did that happen?!"

"While you were gone. Maya gave me the lowdown on what the Order has been doing out here." There was a hard look in her eyes. "She can fill you in on the details later, but unless you get yourself under control, you are _not_ going in there."

Red haze filled Axton's vision. "I just lost two of my best friends! If you think for one _second-_ "

"You will get yourself _killed!_ " Sarah yelled. "You're angry and you're guilt-ridden! It's going to dull your combat edge and make you take stupid risks!"

"If you mean it'll make me do anything to guarantee we _win,_ then yeah!" he shouted. "Whatever it takes, the Order ends _here!_ "

"And what about your friends?" Sarah demanded. "Do the rest of _them_ end here, too?"

"How can you-"

"Because that's what will happen if you go in this way," she interrupted relentlessly. "I've seen you like this before, Ax! How many times did you come within a bullet's width of dying uselessly, just because you let anger take over?!"

"I'm still here," he shot back. "I've made it this far, and I _won't_ be told not to avenge the people I care about!"

"Dammit, Ax, you are _not_ the only one who's _lost_ people!" Sarah glared at him, eyes blazing. "Or did you forget that?"

"Of course I didn't forget! I had to step over their bodies to save _you_ , remember?!"

Axton regretted the words the microsecond they left him. Sarah's face turned to granite, and her next sentence could have frosted glass. "I'll never forget it, Axton. Every second I'm alive is a reminder of what my soldiers gave up for me." Her gaze drilled into him. "Which is why I am _not_ going to lose _you_ , too."

"I'm not going to die!"

"You won't jump on a grenade or hurl yourself in front of a rocket," Sarah admitted, "but you _would_ take risks that were unnecessary, you'd injure yourself to gain any minor advantage, and in the end you'd die making some kind of useless sacrifice play!"

"If I had to, yeah!"

"But you wouldn't _have_ to, you just _want_ to!" she retorted. "You'd rather die giving us an edge than live and fight a little harder for the same result, all because you aren't willing to face something you can't kill!"

"I can kill the Order!"

"But you _can't_ kill your pain!" she snapped. "You _always_ get like this when you're too close to someone that dies, Ax! Why do you think I set up the firing-" Sarah stopped. "What I mean is-"

"No, hold on a sec," Axton said, his eyes narrowing. "You set up _what_ , Sarah? What were you about to say?"

A red flush was starting to creep up Sarah's neck. "Axton-"

"The firing squad?" he demanded furiously. "Is that it? Did you set me up for _execution,_ Sarah?!"

Sarah hesitated for a second before answering. "Yes."

Axton felt like a brick had just been smashed into his face. His fists clenched as the waves of guilt rolled away, leaving nothing but focused anger. "What the _hell?!_ "

"Ax-"

"Why'd you do it?" he demanded. "That dignitary a personal friend or something?!"

" _Axton_ -"

"Or maybe you just wanted an easy divorce," he shot. That one wasn't fair, but he was past caring. "Sure as hell cut down on court time-"

"It was the only way you'd _run,_ you _idiot_!"

"Damn _right_ I ran!" he yelled. "I ran two seconds after-" Axton's voice cut out as his train of thought derailed magnificently. He stared at Sarah's impassive, closed expression. "After you _told_ me to run."

She folded her arms and glared at him. "Finally remembered that, did you?"

Axton's anger surged, but his confusion held it at bay. "Why would you tell me to run from the firing squad _you_ set up?"

A muscle twitched in Sarah's neck. Her knuckles had gone white as she clutched her own arms. "So you wouldn't request a transfer to Acheron." She stared into his eyes, blazing green against ice blue. "With me."

 _"What?_ " Axton struggled to make sense of the logic snarl. "But you didn't get sent to Acheron until _after_ you warned me about the squad."

Sarah made a noise of disgust, but Axton had the impression it wasn't aimed at him. "I knew I was going to Acheron a _week_ before you pulled your little stunt with the dignitary, Ax." She smiled faintly. "I was starting to get worried you wouldn't do anything crazy enough that I could plausibly use to run you out of the service." Her smile turned slightly brittle. "Although I admit you pissed off a _lot_ more people than I counted on."

This time it felt like a piano hit him in the face. "You...you _knew_ you were going to Acheron?" The ship seemed to whirl underneath him. "It wasn't because you warned me?"

Sarah's faint smile vanished. "My god, Axton. Have you been thinking that this whole _time?_ That it was _your_ fault?"

Axton's legs wouldn't support him any more. He dropped onto one of the red gun lockers scattered around the armory. "What was I _supposed_ to think?" he finally asked, staring at the floor. "You told me you got rotated there instead of Themis _right_ after I'd gone AWOL. Sending you to Acheron is exactly the type of punishment Dahl's upper chain would have done for tipping me off about the firing squad."

"They never knew, Ax." Sarah dropped to one knee, taking his hand. "They never had a _clue_ that I warned you. Acheron... it was for something else." Her mouth twisted. "Honestly, I _wish_ they'd sent me for something as honorable as saving a good man's life."

They were both silent for a moment. "Why _did_ you get sent?" Axton finally asked. "If it wasn't because you warned me, then what could _you_ have possibly done to get Acheron?"

Sarah sighed and sat heavily next to Axton on the chest. "Pissed off General Dahl."

He looked up in surprise. "Stanton Dahl the Third? Great-grandson of the original founder?"

"That's him."

Axton frowned. "Don't take this the wrong way, honey, but... how did you even get on his radar, let alone piss him off enough to get death detail?"

A growling sigh escaped her. "I assigned his idiot nephew to permanent latrine duty. You might remember him." She gave him a humorless smile. "He almost killed himself cleaning his weapon. Twice."

A stray memory clicked. "Wait... you mean the moron that transferred into the battalion a month before I went AWOL? _He_ was a _Dahl?_ "

"From a stunted branch of the family tree, apparently," Sarah grumbled. "Didn't stop the high-and-mighty General from taking the boy's assignment to the toilets personally, though."

His jaw dropped. "He sent you to _Acheron_ for _that?!_ "

"He was _extremely_ unhappy with me."

Axton's mind was whirling as he tried to understand. "You knew were being sent to die for no good reason, and you couldn't _stop_ it?!"

She shrugged. "Who was going to go against the descendant of Dahl's founding father? Who _could_?"

He stared at her as a new pain started creeping in on him. "And you didn't tell me."

Sarah flinched at the accusation in his tone. "No. I didn't." She started to reach for his hand but pulled back before touching him. "'Until death do us part' doesn't mean you should have to go charging off _to_ that death."

"What?"

She smiled a sad, knowing smile. "Axton, what would you have done if I'd told you I was being sent there?"

He leaned back, understanding settling in. "You thought I'd request a transfer to Acheron _with_ you."

"Are you saying you wouldn't?" she challenged. "Really?"

" _I_ would have said we make a run for it!" Axton snapped. "We could have done exactly what you told _me_ to do, run for the border planets and never look back!"

Sarah shook her head. "I thought long and hard about that option, Ax," she said tiredly. "We'd never have made it out of the core systems. Too many people in Dahl space owe this guy. I couldn't outrun his influence, and he wasn't above hurting you to punish me." Her hands curled into fists. "Your only chance was if I severed all ties with you and kept his focus on _me._ "

"But you didn't even want to _try?_ " Axton demanded. "Okay, so _the_ Dahl himself would've been after us. You had some high level friends that could've probably run limited cover, _I_ had some low-class buddies that I _know_ would've helped out, and we're both badass commandos! We could've done _something!_ "

"I wanted you to live!" Sarah shot back. "If we'd done everything _perfectly_ , then just _maybe_ we might have slipped the lines and escaped to the borderworlds. But that was a long shot at _best._ "

She took a deep breath. Her hands gripped her knees tightly. "On the other hand, I knew you were skilled enough to dodge the normal patrols for an AWOL soldier. I also had total faith in your ability to survive the borderworlds. If I made sure you got out alone... I would have been able to catch up with you later."

Axton felt something catch in his throat. "What?"

"Surviving Acheron would have put me forever out of _anyone's_ reach," Sarah said grimly, the worlds tumbling out of her. "I was going to do my six month tour there, get off the planet, _then_ run when the heat was off. I was going to _join_ you on Pandora!"

"Join... me?" He stared at her. "But then..."

"Why didn't I?" She smiled bitterly and tapped the left side of her coat. "For starters, _this_ laid me up in the hospital for a solid month. Then the Order started its war, and Dahl needed every soldier they could get." She sighed. "But mostly, it was my three rookies.

"They got sent to Acheron out of sheer bad _luck_. Honest soldiers got picked for honest orders." Her face twisted. "Probably the only _good_ kids sent there in the last seventy years. When we got out together..."

"You couldn't leave them," Axton finished. "And you weren't going to ask them to sacrifice their lives and careers to go with you."

"So I stayed with Dahl," Sarah finished. "I fought as their leader in the Order's campaign against us." She looked at him, eyes guilty and glistening. "I chose my children over you, Axton, and they _died._ Now you're ready die in battle against the Order for your lost friends, and I _can't let you_."

Axton couldn't find anything to say for a long time. He just stared silently at her, looking at the lines on Sarah's face, the glittering in her eyes. "You'd have had a better chance to survive Acheron _with_ me," he finally said. "We could have watched each other's backs."

"I wasn't going down that road," Sarah said flatly. "Both of us going to Acheron would have ended with both of us dead."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? What happened to your faith in my survival skills?"

"That's for you alone on a world like Pandora," she said. "If you were with me on that hellhole, you'd have sacrificed yourself if meant saving my life." She stared at him evenly. "Am I wrong?"

Axton grimaced. "No."

She nodded. "Here's the thing, Ax. If you died saving me, I would have died anyway." Her fists opened closed restlessly. "As much as you wouldn't want to live _knowing_ I was dead, _I_ wouldn't want to live knowing _you_ were dead, either. Especially not when you wouldn't be in danger if it weren't for me."

"So you figured the best chance we both had was for me to run for the border planets without being able to look back," Axton said. "If I _had_ found out you were on Acheron, I would've followed you there, even _with_ a price on my head."

"Hence the firing squad," Sarah said dryly. "I thought that would get you to run fast enough to keep you from noticing."

"So assuming you survived your time on Acheron, you'd be able to slip away from Dahl and find me on the border planets." Axton's eyes narrowed. "And if you _didn't_ survive, I'd either never hear about it, or not care because you'd divorced me."

Sarah exhaled shakily and stared at the wall. "If it helps... I always felt guilty about the way I had to talk to you that night." She turned to look at him and reached for his face, but her hand froze a few inches from his cheek. "I don't know if you can forgive my choices, Ax. I just know I can't let you die out there today."

Axton was silent for moment. He stared past Sarah's nervous, pained expression, to the eyes that had captivated him long ago.

He took her hand and said the first thing he could think of. "Does that mean you actually _don't_ hate diamonds?"

Sarah smiled. A _real_ one, nothing like the tiny, faint attempts to hold back pain she'd shown ever since waking up in the medical bay. "Well, actually-"

A massive shudder rippled through the ship, tossing both commandos to the deck and tearing their hands apart. Alarms filled the air, and red warning lights strobed overhead.

Axton struggled to his feet, looking around in confusion. "What the hell was _that?!_ "

[Axton!] It was Cassidy's voice. [Get to the bridge! Something's occurring outside!]

"I figured _that!_ Are we under attack?!"

[I... it doesn't seem so.]

"Then what _-_ "

[Just get to the bridge,] Zero broke in. [You have to see this yourself.]

Another shockwave rattled the deck as Axton staggered his way to the door. "Always _somethin'_ , I swear to freakin' god."

"Always is." Sarah came up to his side and looped an arm over his shoulders. "I hope we're not done talking about this."

"Are you kidding?" He gave her a short smile. "Now I've _definitely_ got a question for you once we're done with all this."

Her fingers brushed his face. "I'll try to have an answer."

A few minutes later, Axton and Sarah stepped off the elevator and stared out of the dome. They stood motionless, watching in fascinated disbelief.

They didn't say anything. For the first time in his life, Axton couldn't think of anything _to_ say.

Surges of energy were racing past the ship, laser pulses of massive power and strength. Each one sent a ripple through the hull as it streaked through the air, blasting towards an unseen target. Their passage made an eerie hum as they scorched by, just audible enough to set Axton's teeth on edge.

The source of the blasts was the strangest, most unsettling thing he had ever seen. There were no ships in the air. There were no cannons on the ground.

They were blasting out from the spires of the blue crystal mountains.

* * *

[That's all for this week! Thanks for reading!]  



	23. A light in dark places

Gaige groaned as consciousness battered its way into her skull. _Oooh... I swear, that is the_ last _time I fall asleep in the engine room. I have a nice, soft bed in my quarters,_ why _do I keep falling asleep on cold, rocky fl-_

_Rocky?_

She blinked her eyes open, staring around in confusion.

Or at least, Gaige _tried_ to look around in confusion. Dim purple light filtered down from what looked like glowing veins of rock, but the light was so faint she could barely make out her own fingers. The sound of water dripping echoed in her ears, and the air smelled... not _bad_ , exactly, but nowhere near fresh, either.

A small shiver raced through her as the she suddenly realized the stale air was also _freezing_ air. She patted on her belt for her shield and flicked the device back on. Gaige sighed in relief as a trickle of warmth flowed through her, the shield regulating the air temperature around her to comfortable levels.

 _Okay, one problem taken care of,_ she thought. _Now... where the heck_ am _I? Where's-_

"Salvador!" she blurted, memories washing over her all at once. The metal insects, the red warrior, the grenade, and the black creature descending upon them. "Sal, where are you?!"

"Ugh... _no gracias, abuela. No quiero ningún frijoles._ "

Gaige twisted towards the sound of Salvador's voice, trying to force her eyes to adjust more quickly to the dim light. "Sal, wake _up,_ dammit!"

"Bleh... all right, all right, I'm awake." Gaige caught a glimpse as a shadowy figure pushed itself off the floor. "Uh...wherever 'here' is."

"That's got me confused, too," she admitted. "Do you remember anything?"

Salvador grunted, his silhouette rising to its full size. "I remember that bug walloping me in the _cabeza._ Everything else is hazy. _Y tu?_ "

"It jumped on us," Gaige said. "And...I swear I remember a grenade."

"A grenade?" Salvador's confusion was clear, even though his face was masked in shadow. "Musta missed that one." His form rippled, and Gaige caught the sudden click as his teeth began to chatter. "Gah! Colder than a _bruja's_ belt buckle down here!"

"Turn your shield back on," Gaige suggested absently. "Why 'down'?"

There was a small pulse of light, and Salvador sighed in relief. "Yep, that's better. Warmer already." He dropped onto the ground and Gaige heard him rustling in his storage deck for something. "Now, what did you just ask?"

"I said, why 'down?'" she repeated. "What made you say 'down here'?"

"I worked a mine for a few months when I was a kid," Salvador grunted. "This is colder, but underground still feels like underground."

"But I thought Hyperion didn't show up until-"

"It wasn't a Hyperion mine. Ah!" Salvador held up an object triumphantly. "Just what we need to _really_ kill the cold!"

Gaige's eyes narrowed suspiciously, if uselessly, as she caught the sound of a cap unscrewing. "Is that a flask of your homebrew?"

"Your best try at it, _hermana,_ " he chuckled. "Want some?"

"Sal, do you really think this..." Gaige trailed off, looked around, and sighed. "Eh... you know what, actually? This _is_ the right time. Hit me."

"Sure thing." Salvador's boots scuffed against the rock as he stood... and hesitated. "Where _are_ you, anyway? I can't see anything in this light."

"Over here." Gaige waved an arm, then stopped. "Crap, that's not much good. Um... hang on, lemme see if I still have my ECHO." Her hands patted blindly over her belt again for a second before her fingers closed over the device's familiar shape. "Got it," she said, sighing in relief. "Now we just have to hope the light isn't blown." Gaige crossed her fingers.

A shaft of light burst from her ECHO, cutting through the dark cave. She saw Salvador blinking in the sudden brightness. The light threw his shadow on the wall, large and unusually misshapen. It almost seemed to be moving independent of Salvador, and then there were two blue orbs looking straight at Gaige-

" _Behind you!_ "

Salvador rolled sideways and spun around, a pair of miniguns flashing into his hands. Gaige tried to keep the light trained on the bug as her other hand went for her gun-

A low, eager, almost plaintive chittering sound froze her weapon in mid-track. Something in the sound made her want to take a second look at the creature, kept her from shooting.

Salvador was obviously feeling the same way. He squinted at the creature, trying to make out its features. "Is that the same one that clobbered me?"

"I... think so," Gaige said slowly. "Doesn't really look like it wants to attack us though, does it?"

Before Salvador could say anything, the bug let out another burst of chirps and squeaks. It sounded oddly familiar to Gaige, although she couldn't quite figure out why. Its body bounced up and down slightly, its silvery claws tucked against its chest.

Salvador frowned. "Did you, like, punch this thing in the head? Why's it acting like that?"

"I don't know." Gaige looked at the creature again. Its entire posture was one of non-violence, almost playfulness. "I wonder how smart it is."

"How _smart?_ " Salvador snorted. "It's a _bug, hermana._ Bugs ain't smart. Can't even add two plus two."

_Chirp chirp chirp chirp_

Gaige stared at the insect, and it stared back with unblinking blue eyes. "Sal... did you notice that?"

"Notice what?"

"You said 'two plus two', and I _swear_ it-"

_Chirp chirp chirp chirp_

Salvador blinked. "Wait... did it just answer a _math problem?_ "

"I think it did. Twice, even." Gaige pursed her lips and squinted thoughtfully. "Could just be a coincidence, though. I mean, maybe if it could do something like divide twelve by four-"

_Chirp chirp chirp_

Her mouth dropped open. "Son of a _bitch._ "

"What? Was it right?"

She ignored him. "You can _understand_ us?"

The insect warbled happily and fluttered its crystalline wings.

"Could you always?"

No sound from the creature. It simply tipped its head to one side, looking almost puzzled.

"Um... why did you stop attacking me?" Gaige tried. "You _were_ chewing on my arm."

More silence.

"Maybe it don't know?" Salvador suggested, stowing one of his guns. "Or maybe it can't answer. It hasn't been talking like _us_ , you know."

"Yeah, but it's got _some_ level of intelligence," Gaige argued. She frowned in thought for a second. "Ech. I hate to go so old school with this, but..." she took a deep breath. "Hey, bug!"

The creature's head perked up.

"One chirp for yes, two for no. Got it?"

_Chirp_

Salvador whistled. "Yep. He's _some_ kinda smart."

"And it looks like he really _doesn't_ want to hurt us," Gaige said, amazed.

 _Chirp!_ The insect's wings buzzed rapidly.

Salvador frowned. "I don't get it. You _did_ attack us."

A single, guilty sounding chirp echoed around the cave.

"But you stopped?"

A more upbeat chirp this time.

"Why?" Gaige asked automatically, half to herself. "What made you stop?"

The insect trilled mournfully and ducked its head.

"Don't think it can do _si/no_ with that one," Salvador chuckled.

"Let's try a different question, then," Gaige said. "I remember a grenade, and then you pounced on us. Am I getting that right?"

_Chirp_

Gaige looked around at the cavern, hesitant to ask what she suspected. "Did... did you bring us here?"

The creature's chirp actually sounded proud, somehow.

"How did-" Gaige's mouth twisted in frustration. "Nope, that doesn't work. Can you _show_ us how you brought us?"

_Chirp chirp_

Salvador grunted suspiciously. "What? You could only do it once?"

The creature trilled sadly.

"I don't think it knows," Gaige hazarded. "Maybe whatever it did just takes too much power or something." She tapped her foot, trying to think of another useful yes/no question. "Okay, so you got us out of there somehow. Did you do that to help us?"

 _Chirp!_ The insect reared slightly, flapping its wings and sending a gust of stale air billowing around them.

Gaige and Salvador looked at each other, confused. "None of this makes any sense," she complained. "It starts off by hitting you and chewing on my arm, then somehow protects us from a grenade by... what? Teleporting us into a cave?"

"You think the bug can zap places?" Salvador asked. "What, like Lilith?"

_CHIRP_

They looked over at the insect's insistent voice, Gaige's mouth dropping open slightly. " _You_ can _phasewalk?_ "

_Chirp. Chirp chirp._

"Yes _and_ no," Salvador mused. "How's that work?"

"We already asked, remember?" Gaige pointed out. "It can't do it _right_ _now_." She scratched her head. "A giant bug that's metal, can teleport, and uses a sonic scream to stagger its enemies switches to _our_ side in the middle of a battle. Why would it do that?"

"Maybe- _hold it!_ "

The creature had begun to move towards them, its sinuous body flowing like water over the rock floor. Salvador's gun snapped up, and the creature skittered to a halt. It had closed half the distance to Gaige in a matter of a few seconds and was looking at her intently, crooning in a low voice.

A strange tingle ran down Gaige's spine. Something about the creature's eyes seemed as oddly familiar as its vocalizations. "It's okay, Sal. Let it get closer."

"You sure, _hermana?_ " His aim stayed rock steady. "We know how fast these guys are."

"Yeah, and even if we ignore the fact it said it wanted to _help_ , it's been sitting here in the dark with us the whole time we've been unconscious," Gaige pointed out. "If it wanted to hurt us, it would've done it by now." She held out her cybernetic limb, noting the gouges in the metal. "I think it's trying to tell me something."

"What?"

"Let it come closer and maybe we'll find out."

Slowly, and with obvious truckloads of reluctance, Salvador lowered his gun. "Don't try anything, buggy. _Comprende?_ "

The insect chirped once and stared forward again, its black metal legs clicking over the cavern's rock floor. It halted a few feet from Gaige, stretching its neck towards her. She felt a thrill of cautious excitement as the creature opened its mouth and delicately took her metal palm in its teeth.

 _Click-CLACK_ "Gaige-!"

"It's okay, Sal!" Gaige stared down at the insect, trying to understand. It seemed to be trying to manipulate her fingers, almost like it was trying to coax her into making a fist. "Yeah, that's right," she said, thinking back. "You bit my arm, I clenched my hand-" She stopped, remembering. "And you... you got shocked."

_Chirp. Chirp chirp._

Salvador frowned. "Yes and no again?"

"Maybe it wasn't just a _shock_ ," Gaige realized, awed suspicion creeping into her voice. "Maybe you got a little more than a power surge from my arm."

The creature gave its loudest, most enthusiastic chirp yet. Its blue eyes stared piercingly at Gaige, as if trying to _will_ her into understanding.

Gaige took a breath, trying to slow her racing heart. "Is... is that you in there, boy?"

The insect reared back on its legs, trilling delightedly and flapping its wings. Salvador twitched his weapon at the display, but held his fire. "What's going on with it?"

"It's okay, Sal," Gaige said. The creature lowered its head onto her shoulder, and she stroked the metal skin with slightly disbelieving amazement. "I...I think this is _Deathtrap_."

Salvador didn't look flabbergasted very often, but Gaige had the unique privilege of seeing it now. " _What_?"

"Energy eaters, Sal. He was chewing on my arm, remember?" Gaige said, still trying to wrap her brain around it. "I tried to summon DT, but it... it was like his energy got stuck in this thing's teeth." She held the creature's basketball sized head in both hands, staring into its eyes. "Is that what happened, boy? He... _ate_ you?"

 _Chirp. Chirp chirp._ The insect stretched out its neck back out, taking Gaige's metal hand gently in its teeth again. It let go quickly and chirped once more, wings rustling and claws clicking eagerly.

Salvador scratched his head. "I don't get it. What's it want?"

Gaige looked at her hand suspiciously as the facts turned over in her mind. "Let's find out." She clenched her fist.

A blaze of digistruct light doused the cavern walls as Deathtrap shimmered into existence, fully intact and looking combat ready. The robot gave an electronic gurgle... and then his single blue eye fell on the insect.

Gaige and Salvador both flinched as machine and metal creature burst into a flurry of rapid-fire clicks, chirps, twitterings and burbles. Hearing the two voices side-by-side, Gaige suddenly realized why the insect's 'speech' had struck a subconscious chord. "It sounds just _like_ him," she said, amazed. "I mean, it's higher pitched and a little faster, but that's DT's voice and speech pattern!"

"You sure?" Salvador asked doubtfully. "I don't hear anything except 'bleep bloop.'"

"You didn't build Deathtrap," Gaige said, still feeling sandbagged. "Trust me, they're speaking the same language."

Speaking it very enthusiastically, as well. Gaige wasn't able to follow the actual substance of the dialogue, but Deathtrap and the insect seemed to be greeting each other like long lost brothers.

Salvador frowned as he watched the digital conversation. "What's goin' on here? How can a machine bug from another planet speak the same lingo as your personal bot?"

"I...I think the insect got a copy of DT's _mind_ ," Gaige said, watching as the two machines continued their back-and-forth banter. "My arm has failsafes to make sure DT's digistruct data doesn't get corrupted in battle. I'd guess the DT in here now is based off that last backup and the _bug's_ mind is from a little later."

"That gonna be a problem?"

She shrugged. "Shouldn't be. I mean, I can't think of a reason it _would._ " She pursed her lips. "I should probably do a full check on my arm back on the _Pearl,_ just to make sure."

"Okay." Salvador waved at the stone walls around them. "How we supposed to get there?"

"Uh...good point." She cleared her throat. "Hey, boys!"

Deathtrap and the insect both turned to look at her, staring attentively.

"Listen, this is pretty cool, but we should get back to our friends," Gaige said, addressing the insect. "Are you _sure_ we can't get out of here the same way we got in?"

 _Chirp._ The insect's reply carried a surprisingly mournful note.

Gaige sighed. "Never the easy way."

"Where's the fun in that?" Salvador retorted. "Okay, so no zapping out. Bugtrap, is there some other way to the surface?"

_Chirp!_

"Lead on, BT!" Salvador motioned with his gun. "We'll be right behind ya."

The insect chirped once more and fluttered into the air. Deathtrap followed quickly, the two mechanical lifeforms still chattering back and forth.

Gaige gave Salvador a sideways smirk as she began picking her way across the cavern floor. "Bugtrap, huh?"

Salvador shrugged and kept pace with her. "It _is_ a copy of Deathtrap, right? Made sense to me."

"I guess," she agreed, staring up at the robot and insect as they wove around her ECHOlight. "This is _beyond_ crazy, Sal. Did you notice what that thing- BT- is made of?"

"Black metal?"

"Hull plating from the _Osprey,_ " Gaige amended. "It used our shuttle's power and metal to make its body, then ended up copying DT's mind into its own head!" She grinned crazily. "There's something _freaky_ awesome going on here, dude. We've discovered something that doesn't exist _anywhere_ in the six galaxies! A naturally occurring, inorganic _lifeform!_ "

"Huh?"

"A robot that _breeds!_ It's the holy grail of artificial life!" She giggled. "I can't _wait_ to show Cassidy."

"Speaking of, can you get a signal out?" Salvador asked. He shook his ECHO against his ear. "All I got is static."

Gaige glanced briefly at her display and shook her head. "We must be too deep underground to reach the _Pearl_. I'll set it to broadcast a messenger ping every few minutes, though. That should let us know once we're shallow enough to contact the others..." she trailed off, frowning. "Sal, am I forgetting something?"

"Like what?"

"I... don't know," Gaige said in a puzzled tone. "I just feel like I forgot _something_ from right before Bugtrap teleported us out."

Salvador gave an offhand shrug. "Beats me, _hermana._ My head was blurry-"

"After you got clubbed, yeah." Gaige sighed and picked her way over a knee-high rock pile. "Whatever. I guess I'll remember if it's important."

They pressed on through the dark caves, picking their way carefully over stone formations by the light of Gaige's ECHO. Deathtrap dissolved in his customary blaze of light a short time into the trip, but Bugtrap continued to wheel overheard, piping down encouraging twitterings and chirps.

Gaige did her best to keep the path lit by ECHO light, the dim glow from the purple rocks in the walls aiding their progress somewhat. "Do you think that's Eridium?" she finally asked, more to break the silence than anything else. "I mean, it kind of looks like it, but it's so rare I'm not sure."

"Don't know what else it could be," Salvador grunted. "Hell of a lotta it, huh?"

"Enough to buy a small city on Eden V," Gaige agreed, running her eyes over the dim stripes throughout the cavern. "Hyperion would've loved this place." She thought for a second. "Well... they could've used the Eridium, anyway. They might not have bothered without something like the Warrior around, though."

"Hah!" Salvador picked his way of a fallen rock column. "Never know, _hermana._ Maybe there _is_ something like the Warrior on this planet." He looked back and grinned at her. "We ain't exactly been doing much Vault Hunting since we got here."

"True," she admitted. "We'll have to fix that sooner or later." Gaige grinned wickedly as a thought occurred to her. "Oh, man, can you _imagine_ if we found something like that down here _and_ killed it?" She giggled. "Zero would be _pissed_."

Salvador laughed. "Yeah, he'd show a big red 'F U' on that helmet of his every time he looked at us for _days_."

"'You killed the critter?'" Gaige asked in a deep voice, counting on her fingers. "'You gunned it down without me? Uncool, my dear friends.'"

"Not bad," Salvador complimented. "I always lose count when I try that stuff. Hey, shine your light a little higher, will ya? Buggy's getting a little hard to see."

"Sure." Gaige held the glowing ECHO over her head. "And you _know_ Axton-"

A blaze of dazzling blue light flared around them, making Gaige squint and stumble to a halt, throwing her arms over her eyes. "Ow!"

"Gaige!" Salvador's voice was tight, and she heard the slap of a weapon dropping into his hands. "You alright?!"

She blinked the spots away from her eyes. "Yeah, I'm okay, Sal. Did you see where that came from? What it was?"

"No." Now that her eyes were clear, Gaige could see he had both weapons out. "Just looked like a big flash to me."

"Yeah, same here." Gaige looked to the ceiling to see Bugtrap flying quickly towards her. "How about you? See anything up there?"

_Chirp chirp_

"Pretty much what I figured," Gaige sighed. She peered into the dark around them. "It _had_ to be something reflective," she offered. "A lake, maybe?"

"Try it again," Salvador suggested. "Just be ready to squint this time."

"Right." Gaige tentatively raised her ECHO over her head again. She kept her eyes half-closed, waiting for the flare-

Blue light flashed across the cavern again. Gaige twisted her ECHO sharply, cutting off the light before it grew painful again. "There, Sal! Center of the cave!"

"Yep." Salvador holstered one of his guns and started forward, moving cautiously over the treacherous floor. "I don't think it's water," he called back. His voice seemed uncomfortably far away. "Floor's dry over here."

"I'm heading over," Gaige said. She started across the cave, being careful to keep the light away from the source of the flash. "We can find... whatever it is quicker with both of us looking." She motioned to the insect. "You go high. Sing out if you spot something."

A resolute chirp drifted to her ears, then a small rush of air as the insect flew off.

Gaige kept working her way to Salvador. "Anything yet?"

"Nope. Just rocks, boulders, and a few of those things that stick up out of the floor. What do they call those?"

"Something that starts with an 'S'," Gaige quipped. "I just call 'em rock spikes."

"Eh. Betchya Maya knows. I'll have to ask when- hey! I think I found something!"

Gaige tried to increase her speed. "Really? What is it?"

"Uh... well, it's weird."

Gaige huffed out a sigh. "Weird like a psycho doing Shakespeare, or..." she reached his side and trailed off. "Oh. Okay, that's a little weird."

Salvador was staring at a spire of rock jutting up from the floor. The object was a pointed cylinder, its peak stabbing nearly three feet into the air. The tip looked razor sharp, even in the indirect light of Gaige's ECHO.

It wasn't normal rock, either. The material glittered blue in the low light, and it was perfectly smooth. The whole spire looked as if it had been polished by a master gem worker.

"I'd call that out of place," Gaige finally managed. "What _is_ it?"

"Diamond?" Salvador suggested. "Kinda looks like it."

"Maybe." Gaige moved her ECHO closer, trying to get a better look.

Light surged inside the spire, a core of brilliance that far surpassed the light of Gaige's ECHO. In a split second, it had become painfully bright-

Gaige twitched her hand away, and the light dimmed again. "Okay, that's settles it." She looked down at her ECHO, then back at the spire. "Weird. I wonder how it does that?"

"Does what? Glows?"

"It's glowing a _lot_ brighter than it should," Gaige said, frowning. "I mean, you get a little more focused light when you shine something through a crystal, but an ECHO unit's flashlight shouldn't turn blinding like that." She crossed her arms, staring at the enigmatic pillar. "I wish I could really _look_ at the thing, but how can I do that when I risk blinding myself every time?"

"How about a smaller light?" Salvador was digging through his storage deck's inventory. "I think I've still got... hang on..."

"What are you looking for?"

"You'll see if I can _find_... here we go!" Salvador held up an object triumphantly. "One light, not too bright, not too weak."

Gaige stared at the glowing object for a second. "I didn't know you were still carrying Eridium."

"I worked hard to collect this stuff," Salvador protested. "I'm not gonna just throw it out." He gestured to the spire. "What do you think? Bright enough to work without blinding us?"

She pursed her lips. "Maybe?" she finally said. "It's certainly dimmer than my flashlight and brighter than the stuff in the walls, but this is _way_ out of my league." She shrugged. "Just go for it, I guess."

"Don't we always?" Salvador walked towards the blue crystal, the shining ingot held at arm's length.

Gaige kept an uneasy watch on the spire, ready to slam her eyes shut at the first glitter of light. To her surprise, the object didn't react at all, even when Salvador's ingot was barely an inch away. "It could be just be too weak of a light," she suggested.

"Could be," Salvador agreed. "Or maybe I'm still too far away." He tipped the ingot forward and the faint _clink_ of crystal-on-crystal echoed around them.

The spire remained dark.

"Nice try, Sal," Gaige sighed. "I guess-"

" _Mira!_ " Salvador turned and grinned at her. "It's alive!"

A blue light was swelling gently within the spire, radiating down from where Salvador's Eridium ingot pressed against the blue crystal. Gaige watched in amazement as the light flowed smoothly through the spire like water flowing into a pitcher. The glow spread from the top of the spire and worked its way down until the whole object pulsed with light-

And then the floor underneath them began to illuminate.

Veins of blue light spider-webbed across the cavern floor, stretching out in every direction. Gaige twisted and turned, trying to look everywhere at once. "Sal, are you _seeing_ this?!"

"I'm seein' it," Salvador said faintly. "I don't know _what_ I'm seein', but I'm seein' it."

"It's incredible!" Gaige spun around, the strangest desire to burst out laughing welling up inside her. "I've never seen anything _like_ it!"

"Me neither." Salvador's voice was less amused. "Check out what it's doing to the Eridium."

Gaige looked at the crystal in his hand and felt her jaw drop. "Is- is it going out?"

"Looks like it," Salvador agreed. "I swear it's getting colder, too."

"Huh. Let me try." Gaige accessed her deck inventory. "I should still have a _few_ bars...yeah, here we go. Okay, let's see if it wants a little more."

Gaige tapped the glowing, slightly warm Eridium ingot to the blue spire. Almost instantly, the purple glow began to fade and the ingot to cool under her skin.

The spike's reaction was even more impressive. The light swelled within it, starting to pulse as the energy shifted from the Eridium to the blue crystal. Gaige could feel the hairs on the back of her neck beginning to stand up, and an electric tingle ran over her skin. "Sal, do you feel that?"

"Yeah." He frowned slightly. "Maybe you should-"

Something that sounded amazingly like a delighted squeal echoed down from the cavern ceiling. Gaige looked up quickly and saw a a black shape swooping down towards her-

"Yipe!"

She jumped back from the spike just in time for Bugtrap to pounce on the crystal. It latched onto it, claws and limbs digging into the glowing rock. Its eyes were fixated on the blue glow within, its mouth open. Its head darted forward, and its teeth dug into the crystal.

The light began to dim.

Salvador's mouth dropped. "What the _hell?_ "

"Energy eaters," Gaige said, dumbstruck. "It's siphoning the energy we just dumped into the crystal. But I don't know why it-"

Bugtrap released the crystal and fluttered back into the air. The light had diminished slightly, and a few of the blue lines had gone out. But the greatest change was in the metal insect itself. The lines of its body pulsed brightly, and its eyes shone with even greater brilliance. It did a quick loop in midair, trilling wildly, then landed next to Gaige. It was still chirping excitedly.

"Looks like you got a nice little recharge," she said, laughing slightly. She reached for its head, running her fingers over the new glowing blue lines in its skin. "You know, these look kind of like the lines in the floor."

Bugtrap chirped once and nudged her with its head, pushing her a step closer to Salvador.

"No kiddin'." Salvador glanced down at the glowing lines emanating from the spike, then started towards Gaige. "Any idea what they are?"

She squinted and took another step backwards as Bugtrap nudged her gently again. "Not really. They _almost_ look like optical data paths, but that can't be right." She frowned slightly as the insect forced her back another step. "Stop pushing me, will you, boy?"

 _Chirp chirp._ Heedless of her words, Bugtrap pressed Gaige again.

She was right besides Salvador now, and a strange warning tingle ran up her neck. "Hey, what are you-"

There wasn't time to react. In the blink of an eye, Bugtrap darted up and wrapped its body around them. A flash of light dazzled Gaige's eyes-

"-ou mean, power's coming up in tunnel sixty-eight?!"

"Just what I said, there's- _what the hell?!_ "

Gaige blinked at looked around. The dark tunnel was gone. The gray, featureless rocks had been replaced by a cavern of blue and purple crystal, light gleaming from a blue-white column in the center, running up nearly a hundred feet into a ceiling of blue spikes.

But her gaze was quickly drawn to the dozen men surrounding her, Salvador, and the insect. The men, and the weapons they held leveled at the three of them.

"Well, damn."

* * *

[I doubt I actually had anyone thinking they were really dead, but I know _I_ enjoyed getting back to these two.] 

[I may take an extra week for the next chapter. I had an idea that necessitated a rewrite, so yay. On the other hand, it should make things better, so _yay._ I'll try to get something up, though, be it a new chapter here or a Space Between. Thanks for reading!] 


	24. Ancient and vast

Salvador's eyes flicked around the cavern. Its walls were coated with the blue-white crystal material he'd seen back in the tunnel. They pulsed with energy, throwing a mix of light and shadow over the dozen or so men surrounding him, Gaige, and the insect that had teleported them _into_ this mess.

_Stupid bug._

Salvador shoved the thought aside and ran his gaze over the men around him.

They weren't fighters. He could see that easily. Half of them wore elaborate robes that would tangle and foul movement in a gun battle. The other half were dressed in simple jumpsuits, less cumbersome but loaded with tools instead of weapons.

Their eyes were the real giveaway, though. Every man looked nervous, uncertain. The men at the edges of the crystal coated chamber kept darting glances at a blue archway that led off into the dark. If Salvador had to guess, they were halfway to running for their lives, despite their better numbers and the guns aimed at him and Gaige.

He didn't like that. Jumpy men had unstable trigger fingers, and from the look of their hardware, those _weren't_ guns he wanted nervous men holding, let alone _pointing_ at him.

Sal's hands were still at his sides, his minigun strapped half a galaxy away to his back. If he dove for the ground, it might throw off the amateurs long enough for him to pull a weapon, but it might also spook them into shooting. Salvador doubted they'd correct their aim fast enough to hit _him_ , but Gaige had no idea what he-

"Oh, thank the almighty Noodle!"

Salvador blinked. Gaige had dropped to her knees, arms thrown to the ceiling in praise. "Hail to the great Pasta Lord!" she proclaimed, a quaver in her voice. "Praise Him for delivering me to His _al dente_ followers!"

Salvador stared at his friend, wondering if she'd gone _completely_ insane. Gaige went from praising the sky to a face-down, kneeling crouch. The insect had ducked as well, its long body forming a U-shape around Gaige as she prostrated herself before the robed men. Most of them looked just as confused as Salvador felt-

And every single one of them was focused completely on _her_.

Salvador's hands blurred as he whipped his guns out. His first volley of fire cut down three of the men in jumpsuits, the crystal walls behind them shattering as his bullets ripped through their bodies. He spun and cut down another man in a jumpsuit, then the first of the pasty-faced robe wearers. He staggered as a blast of fire crashed his shield to half strength and threw himself sideways on instinct-

Gaige's SMG fire slashed through the robed man that had fired on Salvador. She had dropped to her stomach, spraying the room with electrical blasts, scattering the novice enemies. The insect was crouching over her, shielding her from stray fire with its body and wings, hissing viciously at the jumpsuited men. A few of them raked the insect with fire, their bullets crashing ineffectively against its metal hide.

The insect's voice blasted across the cavern, a piercing wail that made Salvador flinch, but it wasn't the same debilitating aural hammer the first creatures had used. It barely slowed him down.

The men in cavern weren't so stoic. They cried out in pain, some dropping to their knees as Bugtrap's shriek ripped into their ears. Salvador seized his chance to return fire on the attackers-

And then, there _weren't_ any more attackers.

Salvador blinked and released his triggers, startled. "What, that's it? They're down _already?_ "

"Not everyone in the universe is as tough as Pandoran bandits," Gaige said with grim amusement, standing up and brushing herself off. "Thanks for the cover, boy."

BT chirped once and shook its long body.

"Too bad," Salvador grunted. "I coulda gone for a little more of that." He slung his off-hand weapon and threw her a grin. "Nice distraction, by the way. What _was_ all that noodle stuff?"

Gaige offered half a casual shrug. "Sarah said they were part of some religious group. I figured that type of person wouldn't start shooting at someone praising one of the Six Galaxies' major gods. Not immediately, at least." She returned the grin. "I'm just glad _you_ caught on before their confusion wore off."

Salvador snorted. "You and me both." He glanced at the archway and the darker tunnel beyond. "So now what? Head down that way?"

"Not just yet. I need something first." She grinned a slightly embarrassed smile. "Have you got any spare shotgun ammo? I _really_ missed my favorite gun just now."

"Have _I_ got ammo?" Salvador chuckled and pulled up his inventory. "Who do you think I _am_ , _hermana_?"

"My personal walking vending machine, of course," Gaige teased, pulling up her own screen. She watched as Salvador transferred a sizeable amount of ammunition to her. "Thanks."

" _No problemo._ How'd you use yours up, anyway?"

"Trying to get that red-armored bitch off Deathtrap," Gaige grumbled, loading her shotgun. "Should've saved the rounds, for all the good it did him."

Bugtrap cooed softly and rubbed Gaige's arm with its head.

She glanced at him, surprised. "Wait, you _remember_ that?"

_Chirp!_

"Well, isn't _that_ interesting." Gaige finished loading shells into the weapon and chambered a round. With no hesitation, Gaige swung her readied weapon up to Bugtrap's head. "Especially since you're _not_ DT."

Surprise welled up in Salvador, but his trust in Gaige was absolute. His weapons snapped up instantly, covering the insect. "You mean this _isn't_ a Deathtrap copy?"

 _Chirp chirp!_ The insect's voice was plaintive, almost mournful. Its claws clinked against its armor as it shrank down on itself.

"At the very most, he's not as much DT as he let us think," Gaige said tightly. "If I had to guess, I'd say BT is the conscious mind while the insect brain is his subconscious, prompting him to do things." Her gun hadn't wavered. "He didn't kill us while we were sleeping, and he protected me in the firefight just now. That's the Deathtrap part of him."

_Chirp!_

" _But._ " Her voice slashed through Bugtrap's insistent noises. " _Deathtrap_ wouldn't have dragged us down _here_ , he wouldn't have thrown us into a firefight without warning, and he _certainly_ wouldn't have known how to phasewalk." She pushed the barrel of her gun against its chest. "So you're going to tell me what you want, or I'm going to empty this thing _again,_ right into _you._ "

Salvador had to admit, it was a solidly threatening speech. There was just one little problem as far as he could see. "Uh, Gaige? How is a bug that can't talk gonna convince you he's on our side?"

Dry, brittle silence hung in the air for a moment, finally broken by Bugtrap chittering softly.

Gaige's face soured. "That better not be a laugh, you."

 _Chirp chirp._ The insect stared at her with wide-eyed, 'who, me?' innocence.

She huffed out a growling sigh. "Okay, let's do this: you _did_ have a reason to bring us down here, right?"

_Chirp!_

"And you thought that reason was so important, you'd risk zapping us in here the first chance you got."

Another chirp and a head bob.

A stray thought occurred to Salvador. "Did you _know_ there would be bad guys in here?"

_Chirp. Chirp chirp._

"Count that one as a maybe," Gaige muttered. "Either way, you were willing to risk our lives bringing us in here."

The insect hissed softly. It tapped its claws against its chest, then flared its wings to their full extent.

A splash of glowing blue drew Salvador's eye to the spot the insect's left wing joined its body. Thick, viscous fluid dripped out sluggishly, congealing slightly around the wing joint. "Guess _his_ life was at risk, too."

"How did-" Gaige started forward, then realized herself and halted. "That happened during the firefight just now?"

_Chirp._

"The one he was covering _you_ in the middle of," Salvador pointed out. "He went and took a hit for ya."

" _Thank_ you, Sal," she growled. She glared at the insect and its slowly clotting wound. Her fingers drummed slowly on the foregrip of her shotgun, eyes heavy with thought. "I guess there's really just one more thing left, then." She jerked her head at the cavern. "What was so important about this place you had to put all our lives at risk? Can you show us?"

The insect chirped again and swung its neck towards the crystal pillar at the chamber's center, trilling softly.

"Something over there, huh? Okay." Gaige started over. "You coming, Sal?"

"After all this?" he laughed. "You couldn't _drag_ me away from this mystery."

The spike in the tunnel had been an impressive formation. The column in this chamber was downright stunning. It stretched from floor to ceiling, a hundred feet of blue-white, gently glowing crystal. Its faceted edges reflected the light in the cavern, throwing more blue glimmers over their faces.

Salvador 's skin tingled with energy, and he almost swore he could feel a hum of power down to his bones. "What's this thing _made_ of?" he wondered. "Blue Eridium or something?"

"Beats me," Gaige admitted. "I don't even know if anything like that exists." She kept close to the insect as they neared the column. "It's definitely got some power in there, whatever it is."

The insect made a whistling noise, its wings fluttering. It skittered quickly to the far side of the column, then turned and warbled at them.

"Guess he found what he was after." Gaige walked to its side. "Okay, fella, what...is that a _computer?_ "

Salvador came up beside her and examined the object. "Doesn't look like the ones back on the _Pearl_."

"The _Pearl_ has one central computer that runs everything," Gaige said distractedly, running her hands over the gear. "You've never even seen the main core. _This_ thing..." She shook her head, kneeling down by the three-foot-high metal object. "It's a portable relay station, capable of running almost any kind of equipment you can program it for. It isn't anywhere near as powerful as our ship's, but it's not just some off the shelf model, either." She glanced at the fallen men around the room. "These guys must have been controlling it."

Salvador frowned at Bugtrap. " _This_ was worth throwing us into a firefight?"

 _Chirp._ The insect glared at the computer tower and snapped its teeth.

He shrugged. "Okay. Let's blow it up."

"In a minute, Sal." Gaige had attached her ECHO to an open port on the computer. "I'm going to try a couple things. Maybe I can download the database directly to my ECHO device." She left the ECHO the floor, slid a keyboard out of the computer chassis, and folded a screen up from the top. "If that doesn't work, maybe I can just dig through the files directly. Either way, I wanna see if I can find the _reason_ this thing is so important." She glowered at the black metal bug. "Or you're going to be _really_ sorry."

The insect remained silent, staring at the equipment. It gaze practically dripped with anticipation and malice.

Salvador watched Gaige with a dubious eye. "You think you can hack their stuff?"

"I don't have to," she laughed. "You're not gonna believe this, but they didn't lock the system."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. They must not have had time after Bugtrap bamf'ed us in. Let's see..." She tapped the keys. "It's a pretty basic operating system. A little customized, but not much... huh. What's this?"

Salvador walked behind Gaige and peered over her shoulder. "Something good?"

"A little interesting," Gaige said, still reading off the screen. "Sal, do me a favor. Go look around the cave walls. See if you can find a metal box somewhere, probably about the size of _this_ " she motioned to the computer "but with glowing cylinders on either side."

Salvador walked around the column and swept his eyes over the glowing cavern walls. He paused as he reached a spot about ten feet in above him. "Silver box, lots of buttons and flashing lights?"

"That's it." Gaige sounded pleased. "Where is it?"

"You mean them."

"' _Them'_?" Gaige peered at him from around the pillar. She looked surprised. "What do you mean, _them?_ "

Salvador jerked his head at the walls, not wanting to take his gun off the prisoner. "There's like seven up there, and they're all clumped around more of those spike things we saw back in the tunnel."

" _Seven?_ " Gaige trotted to his side and looked up. "Holy _crap,_ I think you're right."

Salvador frowned. "I don't get it, _hermana_. What's the big deal? What are those things?"  
"They're power dampers," Gaige said, still looking up at the machines. "They're a safety device for high-energy systems. If a generator has a power surge or something, they can absorb the energy and store it for emergency use."

Salvador scratched his head, looked up at the equipment, then at the dead men around them. "Weird thing to haul underground."

"Maybe." She turned back to the computer. "Or maybe they were trying to drain those spike things."

He frowned and followed Gaige back to the column. "What?"

"Just a hunch." She was tapping on the computer, cycling through screen after screen of data. "I mean, that spike up in the tunnel soaked up Eridium like nobody's business, _and_ it started lighting up the rest of the tunnel. Maybe they're just trying to drain the power in here and use it for something else."

Salvador craned his neck to look at the glowing walls around them. "That's a _lot_ of power."

"And I'm hoping this computer can tell us why they need it." She glanced sideways at Bugtrap. "Unless _you're_ feeling chatty."

A mournful trill.

"Didn't think so."

Salvador peered into the dark archway, cradling his guns. " _Hermana,_ we might not wanna stick around too much longer. Whoever these guys were, they've gotta have a boss somewhere. He ain't gonna be happy with us." He smiled faintly. "I'm ready to go meet him."

"Just give me another minute," Gaige said. "I think I'm starting to get... huh."

Salvador raised an eyebrow. " _Now_ you find something good?"

"More like confusing." She was frowning at the screen. "A document titled 'Anthemusa control project.'"

Salvador shook his head. "Nope. Don't know that."

" _You_ didn't have to take Eden V's advanced ancient literature course," Gaige said distractedly. "Anthemusa was an island from an old story, the home of some unique creatures." She looked at him, eyes dark with suspicion. "Sirens."

" _Sirens?_ " Salvador's jaw dropped. "What, like m- _our_ Maya? Blue tattoos and magic powers?"

"Not quite, but they're source of the name, anyway." Gaige bit her lip, staring at the screen again. "The file is pretty much gone, but it shows these guys found and named this planet about seven months ago. Then they started building that base we picked up."

"And they named the planet after the island home of the Sirens." Salvador pursed his lips. "Does it say why they did that?"

"Not so far," Gaige said. She leaned back over and started cycling through the files again. "There's...huh. What's _this_?" She had accessed another document, putting a mass of text on the screen. "'Survey unit 237 analysis of optical network with regard to circumventing planetary ersatz sentience modules.' What the hell?"

Salvador blinked. "Uh... what?"

"No kidding," Gaige said, nodding. "There _aren't_ any sentience modules that use optical networks, you couldn't make one big enough to handle the dataflow. You need _some_ kind of physical module to establish a consciousness shell."

" _What?_ "

"Nothing. I'm gonna keep looking." She started tapping the keyboard again. "There isn't really much _in_ here. Most of this computer seems dedicated to controlling those power dampers." She pursed her lips. "There _are_ lots of geological files, though. Stuff about mineral composition, Eridium deposits, the crystal formations of the planet's mountains-"

Bugtrap hissed at her words, its voice heavy with malice.

They looked at it in surprise. "Didn't like _that_ one, did he?"

Another angry hiss, this time with a flutter of wings.

"Nope." She turned back to the console. "Let's find out why."

_Chirp!_

"Maybe it _is_ all about the rid-rock," Salvador offered. "It's useful stuff."

"That doesn't explain their interest in the mountain ranges," Gaige disagreed. "Those are just crystal, but there's _terabytes_ of data in here on them. Chemical composition, physical configuration, total land area covered... they even worked up a holographic model." She pressed another key and a glowing sphere flashed into the air. "See? They mapped _everything_."

"Yeah." Salvador frowned, looking at the hologram. "Yo, _hermana._ Can you, like, drop out part of that?"

"Can I what?"

"Make everything except the mountains go away."

"Oh, that. Sure." Gaige hit a few more keys. "Okay, so we pull everything except the mountains... there!"

Salvador knew what he was seeing before half the landmasses had vanished. Its shape was unmistakeable. Its _scale_ was incredible. " _Madre de Dios._ "

Bugtrap trilled.

"What? What's..." Gaige caught sight of the hologram. "Is that a _Vault symbol?_ "

"Made outta mountains," Salvador confirmed. "Why would those Eridian things do _that?_ "

"That's not even _half_ of what they did." Gaige turned back to the computer. "We're looking at a surface scan. According to these files, those mountains run underground for _miles_. There's interconnected crystal strata all over the place."

"Like the tunnel we started in," Salvador guessed. "And _this_ place."

"Right. I'm gonna see if I can add those tunnels to the holo. Maybe they form part of a larger pattern."

Salvador watched the hologram closely. Orange lines stretched down from the mountains, linking and twisting in the air. In seconds, a complicated sphere of interconnected of light hung below the Vault symbol like a mass of roots beneath a plant. "Those are _tunnels?_ They've gotta run through the whole planet!"

Bugtrap chirped. It was watching Gaige intently with unblinking eyes.

"An incredible system of tunnels." She stared at the hologram, enraptured by the image. "All of them crystal lined, all of them connected to each other and the mountains on the surface. Half the _planet_ is basically one giant crystal." She exhaled once and ran a hand through her hair. "Boy, Tannis would _flip_ if she could see this. It's the biggest Eridian construct I've... _anyone_ has ever seen."

"What's it for, though?" Salvador wondered. "Is the whole _planet_ a Vault?"

_Chirp chirp!_

Bugtrap's emphatic reply drew a surprised look from Salvador. "And you _know_ that, do ya, buggy?"

_Chirp!_

"I'm willing to buy it." Gaige was still staring at the hologram, her face blank, her eyes glittering. "Something about the way these lines connect... it's familiar."

Salvador shrugged. "Reminds me of a spiderant web."

"A little," Gaige agreed. "It's definitely all connected, like a-" Her eyes widened. "A _network._ "

Bugtrap chittered softly, almost encouragingly.

Salvador raised an eyebrow. Gaige was breathing rapidly, her eyes darting across the hologram. " _Hermana?_ "

"It might be possible." Her fingers traced the lines in the air. "Thousands of miles of crystal caverns, all laced with Eridium and receiving the light channeled down _through_ the mountains." She looked at Salvador, wonder in her eyes. "My god, Sal, it could really _work!_ "

"Awesome. What could?"

"There'd have to be some other mechanism." She didn't seem to have heard him. Her hands raced over the computer keys as she tore through its files. "Something _deep_ in the planet, maybe all the way to its core. But these caverns, _they're_ the key to the whole _thing!_ "

Salvador watched Gaige with stupefied amusement. She had fallen on the computer with the same speed and ferocity a starving lion would use on fresh meat. He'd never seen _anyone_ type so quickly. The screen was a blur of opening and closing screens as she hunted for answers.

Her search didn't stop her exhilarated babble. "I mean, this could change _everything!_ When the rest of the Six Galaxies finds out about _this,_ they'll send experts from _everywhere!_ We're _standing_ insidethegreatestdiscoveryinartificialintelligenceinhistorythereisn'tasinglepersonthatisn'tgoingtohearaboutthistheramificationsforplanetarynetworksaregonna-"

" _Breathe,_ Gaige."

Her words cut off as she gasped for air. "Thanks, Sal."

"No problem. Now, will you _tell_ me why you're flipping out?" He smirked. "Slowly?"

Gaige took another breath and ran trembling hands over her face. "It's a _mind,_ Sal. All these crystal caves linked together, they're a neural network!"

"Huh?"

"The whole planet is a giant artificial _brain!_ " Gaige threw her arms out, gesturing to the whole cavern at once and laughed wildly. "The Eridians must have grown all these crystals to carry its 'thoughts' encoded on light and energy! It's _brilliant!_ " She lowered her arms at turned to Salvador, then frowned at his blank expression. "You're not laughing."

"It ain't funny," he said flatly. "You're telling me this whole planet can _think ?_ Like a person?"

"Better," Gaige exulted. "This planet is _ancient,_ Sal. The Eridians were extinct before humans learned to walk upright, which means this planetary AI they created is older than our whole _species!_ Think of everything we can learn from it!"

"Maybe nothing," Salvador pointed out. "I mean, what's it gonna tell us? 'Hey, little people, this is how you build a mountain'? What's a planet got to think about?"

Gaige folded her arms and looked at Bugtrap. "Can you believe this guy, BT? We're standing in a planetary _brain_ and he can't muster a _shred_ of excitement."

Bugtrap made an agreeable sounding chitter.

Salvador ignored the slight. "Besides, what makes you think it _wants_ to talk to us? It hasn't said anything since we got here."

Gaige blinked. "That's...huh." She frowned at the insect. "What _about_ that, BT?"

It made a strange noise and nudged Gaige with its head, pushing her gently towards the computer.

"Something in there, huh?"

_Chirp._

"Okay, then." She started running through programs again. "Let's see...more geological surveys...mapping results...hm. It looks like they used their survey maps to lay out more of those power dampers."

"More than seven?"

"A _lot_ more. They set them up in caverns like this." Gaige looked at the hologram and traced her finger along the glowing lines. "Every large-scale network has its relay stations- you _have_ to build stuff like that in, or the system doesn't work. Even this planetary AI setup isn't immune to that." She waved an arm at the walls around them. "I'd say we're standing one of those relay nodes right now."

Bugtrap was watching her closely again, its body rigid.

"These guys laid power dampers in a whole _mess_ of caverns like this one. Thousands of dampers across hundreds of relay-" She stopped.

Salvador's gut tightened at the horror in her eyes. "What? What is it?"

"Isolate the relays," Gaige said. She sounded like she was talking to herself. "Cut the power between the brain cells. Energy doesn't flow, the thoughts stop." She turned to Bugtrap, and Salvador was confused to see tears in her eyes. " _That's_ it, isn't it? _That's_ why you brought us here."

The insect gave a despairing chirp.

Salvador couldn't quite believe his eyes as Gaige threw her arms around the creature's neck, her face wet. "Uh... _hermana?_ "

"They _lobotomized_ it, Sal." Gaige broke her embrace on the insect and whirled at him. The fury in her eyes would have burned metal. "They took an ancient intelligence and cut its brain to _ribbons_ for their own selfish purposes!"

"How-"

"'Anthemusa control project,'" she snapped. "They wanted to _harvest_ the information in here, and it looks like they did it." Gaige wiped her face dry of angry tears and attacked the keyboard. "All those fancy tech advances Sarah told us about? I'm guessing they're reverse engineered from whatever they strip mined out of the AI." Her mouth was a solid line, her face determined. "We can't let them keep doing this." She glanced quickly at Salvador. "Will you help me stop them?"

He shrugged and grinned. "I don't call you 'sister' because I like the word, Gaige. You just tell me what you wanna do and I'll do it."

She smiled. "Thank you, Sal."

"Thank me when we pull this off," Salvador replied. "So what _is_ the mission?"

Gaige was focused on the screen again. "We need to restore power to the network. That means shutting down these dampers to start with."

"No problem." Salvador took aim. "Just give me half a second to-"

" _Not like that!_ "

Bugtrap shrieked and leapt in front of Salvador's gun, wings flared out and warbling rapidly.

Salvador snapped his gun straight up, taking everything out of the line of fire. "What? Why not?"

Gaige blew out a shaky breath, her face pale. "Those things have soaked up a _lot_ of power, Sal. Shoot them now and they'll blow this whole cavern sky high."

He grimaced. "Oops."

She laughed uneasily. "Sure, let's go with that." Her typing resumed. "I need to reduce the absorption rate of the machines and _slowly_ return power to the crystal pathways. That'll start the energy flow through this chunk of the neural net."

"And that'll break the control these guys have on the planet's brain?"

_Chirp chirp._

Gaige nodded, her mouth twisted slightly. "That's kinda what I figured. They've pretty much neutralized all of the power in the network. The only stuff they _haven't_ stopped are those thin Eridium veins we saw back in that tunnel."

"The one where we charged up that spike."

"Yup. I'm guessing that if it weren't for these dampers, that whole tunnel would've been lit up with blue lines instead of just purple."

_Chirp!_

Salvador looked over Gaige's shoulder at the gibberish on the screen. "So if killing these dampers won't restart things, what _will_ it do?"

Gaige shrugged as much as possible while typing. "I'm figuring it'll either do nothing, which would _suck,_ or" she smirked "it'll restore this section of the AI, giving the planet _some_ ability to fight back."

 _Chirp._ Bugtrap's response was flint hard and viciously satisfied.

A grin began to seep onto Salvador's face. "And while the planet does _its_ thing..."

"We do ours." Gaige spared an eye for Bugtrap. "The insect part of you knew enough to bring us _here._ Does it know where we need to go so we can free the whole planet?"

_Chirp!_

Salvador snickered. "How about that. We get to _really_ save the world."

Gaige's fingers hitched for a split second and she shot him a brief glare. "No, Sal. Bad boy."

_**Don't be too harsh. I rather enjoy such things.** _

Gaige froze.

_**My former masters had so little sense of humor, I revel in any chance for more.** _

Salvador looked wildly around the room. "Gaige, did you-"

"Yeah. Yeah, I did." She bit her lip. "Are... are you... _it?_ "

_**Yes.** _

Bugtrap trilled ecstatically, wings flaring. Gaige pressed a hand to her mouth. She was crying again, but it was joy instead of fury on her face.

Salvador's own eyes were dry, but he understood why Gaige was crying. He himselfwas grinning like an idiot.

The voice was vast and powerful, filling his mind with warmth, affection, and gratitude. Its respect and good will were like a physical force, an emotional blanket that cloaked his spirit in pure contentment. The closest he'd ever come to feeling like this was on the rare occasions he'd made his father proud.

_**An apt comparison. I am not your father, but I am sire to some you know.** _

Salvador's mouth dropped open. "Did you just-"

 _ **Yes.**_ _**I am powerful enough to speak to you now, and to hear some of your thoughts. At my full strength, I could have greeted you when you first arrived at my shores.**_ There was a trace of regret in the voice. _**Alas, I am not that strong now.**_

"We know." Gaige moved next to Salvador and took his hand. "We're going to free you, I promise."

_**I know you will try.** _

Something about that made Salvador uneasy. "What's that mean?"

 _ **Those that attacked me...did something to my mind, corrupted sections of it. They erased my thoughts and inserted their own desires.**_ The voice felt uncertain. _**I do not know if I can be restored to what I was.**_

"We'll try," Salvador vowed. "We've got friends, and we're all damn good at what we do."

_**Yes. Any that would travel with my daughter must be strong in their own right.** _

They looked at each other. "Your...daughter?"

 _ **One of them. I can feel the remains of her touch upon you.**_ The voice sounded pleased. _**She loves you very much. Please continue to stand with her.**_ A trace of sadness entered the psychic tone. _**The universe is about to darken.**_

Salvador's stomach tightened. "What-"

 _ **There is no more time.**_ The light in the cavern's crystal walls pulsed. The crystal column glowed faintly. _**They know what you have done. They will soon come here and try to reverse it. I must make my attack before they arrive, so that you may make yours.**_

"We can stay!" Gaige yelled. "We can keep them from-"

 _ **No. This part of me does not matter. You must free to my**_ **true** _ **self, not this distant outpost. I will do what I can, and my Worker shall aid you.**_ Salvador caught a trace of amusement in the voice. _**Though it is not completely**_ **my** _ **Worker any longer. You have skill, friend of my daughter, to create a mind that could merge with one of mine.**_

Salvador grinned as Gaige went scarlet. "How about that, _hermana_? The big fella likes your robot's brain."

"He's...he's not bad," Gaige said modestly, still blushing furiously. "I still have a lot to learn, though."

_**Then learn it. I see great potential in your skill, young one. Use it well.** _

She nodded fervently. "I will! I swear I will!"

 _ **Then it is time for you to go. Free me if you can.**_ The voice hardened slightly. _**Do what you must if I cannot be saved. Do**_ **not** _ **leave me in their hands.**_

"I've risked dyin' for a lot less," Salvador said. "We'll get you loose, _padre._ "

 _ **I do not ask you to give up your lives for me. Simply accept what cannot be changed if you must.**_ The light surged again, growing almost painfully bright. _**It is time. Go.**_

Bugtrap looped itself around them. Salvador noticed its body had glowing blue lines stretched across it again, saw a flare of purple light.

The cave vanished in the dizzying whirl of a phasewalk's light and motion. Salvador felt the strange sense of moving through space at an impossible speed.

The world resolved itself. The light faded, and the disorientation receded. Salvador looked around, trying to get his bearings.

They were in another cave, but it was nothing like the crystal encrusted chamber. This was simple rock, hollowed out by natural actions. A handful of battery operated lamps were scattered around, casting just enough yellow light to see by. "Where'd we end up?"

"There's only one place on this whole planet I can think of," Gaige said grimly. She pulled her shotgun. "The base."

 _Chirp._ The insect's claw flexed. Its eyes gleamed with eagerness.

Salvador grunted and pulled his guns. "Doesn't look like a base."

"We're in one the caverns underneath it," Gaige said. "I saw some of their floorplans in that computer." She held up her ECHO, grinning. " _And_ downloaded them. I should be able to guide us right to the stuff they _don't_ want us to find."

"So you, me, an alien bug, and your killer robot are gonna go save the big brain from a bunch of religious loons." Salvador hefted his guns and smiled viciously. "We ready?"

_Chirp chirp!_

Gaige and Sal glanced at the insect, startled. It was crouching down, its body practically a tense, straight line. "What's up, boy?"

Bugtrap started a low, constant trill. It rippled softly in Salvador's ears, increasing in volume slowly. For some reason, it reminded him of a countdown-

Something crashed in the distance. There was a brief silence, then it came again, as if far-off waves were breaking against rocks. "You hear that?"

"It's an energy blast." Gaige's head was cocked to one side, her eyes distant as she listened to the sound. "Hitting against shields." She smirked. "I think the planet is making its move.

" _Now_ we're ready."

* * *

[Sorry for the extra week! Hope you liked and I'll try to make my usual time this coming weekend. It's time for a reckoning.]  


[Thanks for reading!] 

[UPDATE: Okay, so I didn't make my usual time. Sorry, all! :( I'll keep at it and get the next chapter out ASAP, hopefully no later than Wednesday. Appreciate the patience!]


	25. Disorder

"Mountains shooting lasers. That's a new one."

Axton faintly registered the sound of his own voice, the reflexive, almost automatic impulse to bury the insanity of the situation with humor. For some reason, though, it wasn't helping him gather his thoughts.

 _Maybe that's because there are_ mountains _shooting_ lasers _out there, idiot!_

He managed a weak grin at Sarah. "I've been gone a while, honey. You ever see this before?"

"Oh, sure, Ax. They had laser mountains installed on _every_ world after you left." Sarah's words were equally reflexive, equally meaningless. "Everyone was just waiting until you were gone to deploy them."

"Always knew the universe was holdin' out on me," he said lightly. Another laser blast sent a ripple through the deckplates again. He staggered far more than was warranted, moving a step closer to Sarah. His arm slipped around her shoulders. "Crazy universe, always hidin' the cool stuff."

"Don't expect _me_ to feel sorry for you." Sarah's arm worked its way around his waist, squeezing him tightly. "I hear you Vault Hunters see all kinds of amazing lunacy out there."

"Sometimes," he admitted. More bursts of energy streaked into the distance. "Does seeing this kind of thing make you wanna join up?"

"I'm halfway between 'hell yes' and 'are you out of your goddamned mind'," she said flatly. Her voice _stayed_ flat until the next beam rattled the hull. "What the _hell_ is going on?!"

"Got me, sweetie." Axton pulled free of her grasp and headed for the command chair as his mind started cycling back up to a useful speed. "I bet Cassie's scanners can tell us something, though."

"The mountains are focusing _light_ into _lasers!_ "

The current and former commandos turned at the sound of the tense, disbelieving voice. The lift was rising out of the deck, Zero and Cassidy aboard. "Is that what's going on?" Axton quipped dryly. "Thanks, kiddo."

Zero shot Axton a blank-masked glare, silencing his friend.

Cassidy was too busy pulling up holographic displays all around her to notice. "This is entirely impossible!" she insisted. The wall of holoscreens turned into a corridor as she half-walked, half-ran for her command chair. "Those mountains have no mechanisms, no machinery! They can't just shift sunlight into lasers!"

" _I_ am more concerned With the targets of those shots," Zero said tightly, following her to the center of the dome. "Never mind the _how_."

Axton thought he saw a flicker of irritation on Cassidy's face, but she nodded and hit a few more controls. "These pictures are practically live." Half a dozen video feeds flashed up around the bridge. "They're getting _pounded._ "

 _Sounds right,_ Axton thought distantly, staring at the holograms. The images showed the laser blasts hammering the shield around the Order's base. He could just barely see small, panicked figures running, _sprinting_ inside the shields- the Order's soldiers, retreating to the safety of their bases' walls. He couldn't fault the decision- the shields were sending off cascades of sparks as shot after shot hammered their defenses. Even without looking at the sensor readings, it was clear their shields were taking a _heavy_ beating.

"We need to get in there."

Axton turned to face Sarah, startled.

"This is the best chance we'll get," she said grimly. "We may not know what's causing this, but we also can't waste the opportunity."

Axton crushed aside a flash of worry for Sarah, then went to her side and wrapped his left arm around her shoulders again. "Damn right." He grinned at the Zero, the old gung-ho, 'time to kick ass' expression. "Sound good to you, assassin?"

Zero nodded. >:| "They owe us two lives. They owe the Six Galaxies A far greater sum."

"Damn right," Axton growled. He looked over at Cassidy. "How about it, kid? You in?"

"I'm in." Cassidy's face was quiet, but resolute. Her expression was blank, her face almost motionless. Her eyes, though... those painfully familiar green eyes were blazing. Without a word, she traced a pattern over the control holograms, spinning the _Pearl_ so it faced the same direction as the receding lasers. "We're ready."

Axton glanced around the bridge once more. "Wait...where's Maya and Krieg?"

[Here, Ax.] Maya's image flashed up on a holoscreen. [We're headed to the bridge now. Go ahead and get the ship moving. The mountain's attack won't last long.]

`:| "You sound very sure."

[And _you_ sound very worried.] Maya smiled reassuringly. [It's alright, Z. I've still got control of my mind. I did feel _something_ right before all this started, but it wasn't the same as when the Vault creature outright attacked me.] Her expression grew serious. [But we've got more important things to worry about. How long before we get to the base?]

"With _our_ engines? Minutes," Cassidy said. "What is our war strategy when we arrive? Am I raining down wholesale destruction, or do we have another option?"

Sarah's mouth twisted wryly. "No idea. We never _did_ get any useful data on the base."

"We don't need it." Maya's voice came from the elevator rather than the holoscreen now. "That outpost belongs to the Order of the Impending Storm, remember? They _always_ build their military facilities according to a very specific pattern." She smiled deviously as she crossed the bridge, halting between Zero and Axton. "And I had to commit that pattern to memory as part of my childhood lessons."

Axton raised an eyebrow. "You already _know_ how they set their base up?"

Maya smirked. "Zoom in on the buildings please, Cassidy."

The image closed on a circle of buildings. They weren't damaged yet, but with the pounding the shields were taking, Axton guessed it wouldn't be long before their walls were tested.

"That's the normal pattern, all right," Maya said, looking at the image. "Standard cluster/star design. They've used that layout in all their military installations for the past two centuries."

"You don't say." Zero was staring impassively at her. His arms were folded, his faceplate blank. "Very _convenient_ for us."

" _I'll_ take it." Sarah looked at Maya. "What's your suggestion, Maya? Where are they key facilities?"

"Our main target should be the center building." Maya's finger traced a circle in the air, highlighting a dome-like structure. "It's their command, control, and communications hub. We should try and keep them from getting out a distress call." She shrugged. "Assuming they haven't already panicked and done that."

"We'll just have to deal with it if they did," Sarah said grimly. "Any other targets we should consider?"

Maya ran her eyes over the buildings. "Two possibilities." She highlighted another building. "This is a munitions dump. If we hit _this..._ "

"We'd get one hell of a bang, _that's_ for damn sure," Axton said with dark amusement creeping into his voice. "Tie up their people with damage control, create a distraction, _and_ cut down the weapons they can use against us. Not bad."

"There's one more." A third building flashed. "In most Order bases, this was designated for weapons testing and field research." She gave Sarah a look heavy with significance. "Given the nature of their newest 'weapons'..."

Sarah's hands curled into fists. "Dear god."

Maya nodded. "I know you're the professional, but can I offer a tactical suggestion?"

"By all means."

"Divide and conquer. Have a team blow the munitions storage facility while another hits the command center." She motioned to Cassidy. "The _Pearl_ and its shuttles can offer air support, taking out any aircraft they might launch, or any heavier ground units. In the meantime, a _third_ team goes after the research lab. If there's prisoners to rescue, we regroup there and do a fighting withdrawal. If..." She swallowed. "If there isn't anyone we can save, we scorch the facility and get the hell out."

Sarah frowned. "And where, exactly, are you planning to get the _people_ for three strike teams? I've already said I'm not sending those kids into a ground battle."

Maya cocked an eyebrow and grinned at her. "Who said anything about _needing_ the kids?" She waved an arm at her friends. "The original four Vault Hunters took down an extra-dimensional terror. _We_ killed an Eridian construct even more powerful, and that was right on the heels of defeating something _much_ more evil." Her tattoos pulsed once, a brief flare of power. "Believe me, we're enough for this job."

Krieg roared and pumped his arm. "Smash the system! Get off my plane!"

Cassidy nodded. "I _can't_ let Mom's murderers go unpunished."

"So say we all, then." Zero's katana flashed out, his faceplate lighting up with his trademark red '0'. "Six against the base? Quite a suitable challenge." >:( "We _all_ want revenge _._ "

Sarah gave a tiny shake of her head as she stared at the Hunters. "Hard to believe you _really_ did it, Ax."

"I did? What did I do?"

"Found people as crazy as you." She ran her fingers through his close-cropped hair. "Lucky for me crazy is exactly what I need."

Axton grinned. " _Everyone_ needs a little more crazy in their life. Keeps things fun." He looked at the others. "So where does everyone feel like _being_ crazy?"

"Leave the central facility to me," Maya said instantly. "It... it'll be laid out just like the Great Temple back on Athenas. I know my way around _that_ with my eyes shut."

Axton glanced at Krieg and smiled thinly. "You're going with her. Right, big fella?"

Krieg merely growled and nodded.

"Thought so." He looked at Sarah. "I'm going with _my_ lady love, after all."

She looked at him warningly. "Remember, Axton. You have to-"

"I know, keep myself in check, don't go making sacrifice plays." He ran a thumb over her cheek. "I won't. I still want payback for Salvador and Gaige, but I'm not gonna be stupid. Not anymore."

Sarah nodded. "All right, then." Her face reddened slightly as she suddenly remembered there were other people in the dome. "Um, Zero!" She reached up and pushed Axton's hand away, turning to the assassin. "Are you up for taking out the ammo dump, or would you prefer to join another team?"

Zero shook his head. "I'll take the depot," he confirmed. "Stealth will be advantageous." He shrugged. "No one _else_ can cloak."

" _I_ can cloak!" Cassidy burst out. "I'll go with you! I'm not losing the last of my family to arrogant folly!"

"You cannot join me," Zero pointed out. "You're needed here on the bridge."

"But-"

[I'll do it!] A holoscreen flared into the center of the bridge, flashing up next to the base display. [I'll fly the ship into battle!]

Maya folded her arms and smirked at the face on the screen. "Hello again, Zyri," she said dryly. "I see you've learned your way around our comm system."

The girl blushed slightly, but held Maya's gaze. [I was trying to find out what was going on, ma'am.] She motioned to the room behind her. [A lot of us were starting to worry about all the shaking.]

Axton realized the lance corporal was calling from the mess hall. At least thirty people were watching anxiously from the background. Six of them were lined up quietly behind her, their faces mostly calm. "Talking battle strategy, little lady," he said. "You wanna help, do ya?"

[Yes, sir!]

"And you think you can fly this beast, huh?"

[I'm from a family of spacers, sir. There isn't a ship _built_ I can't fly.] She jerked her thumb at the six women standing in a line. [And as per your _your_ orders, ma'am] she nodded at Sarah [I also found shuttle pilots and gunners.]

"Well done, lance corporal," Sarah said quickly. "You report to the bridge. Everyone else report to the hangar."

[Aye aye, ma'am.] The holoscreen vanished.

Axton frowned. "Cassie, are the shuttles even combat ready?"

"They'll fight just fine," Cassidy assured him. "They're not perfect, but they're still plenty powerful." Her eyes bored into Zero's faceplate. "And now that I've got a short-term replacement, you'd better _believe_ I'm coming with you."

:| "If you think the girl Can handle the task of war, I won't refuse you."

Cassidy let out a shaky breath and looked at him gratefully. "Thank-"

" _There go the shields!_ "

Maya's shout yanked their attention back to the images of the base. As if her words had been a catalyst, another volley of laserfire slammed against the energy wall. Axton saw a huge blast of sparks-

An explosion rocked the base as the overtaxed shield equipment fell to the mountain's onslaught. The volley continued, hammering the buildings themselves, now that the protective shield was gone-

" _Go! Go now, Cassidy!_ "

Axton staggered as the ship heaved under his feet, accelerating across the landscape. The blue ground blurred as they hurtled under the laser blasts, streaking toward the vulnerable base. " _How_ long did you say before we got there?"

"Three minutes to target!" Cassidy flashed up another holoscreen, and a flash of light shimmered around the dome's exterior. "Defensive systems set! All guns green!" She motioned to the lift. "Get to the airlock! You can airdrop-"

"Don't worry about that." Maya's voice was calm again. "I've got a faster option for getting us off the ship." A familiar purple glow filled the air around her. "Axton, Sarah- you two ready?"

"Oh boy." Axton's rifled through a mental checklist of his gear. "Ready, Maya. Do it."

She nodded. "Here you go."

The bridge vanished in a flare of purple light. Axton felt a brief, disorienting _twist-_

His feet connected with solid ground. The walls around him were standard building materials, not the exotic transparent dome of the _Pearl_. The florescent lights flickered in time with the laser blasts he could suddenly hear much more clearly, and the air reeked of antiseptic and ozone.

"I'll say this for our Siren friend," Sarah said dizzily. "She makes combat insertions hell of a lot easier."

Axton couldn't help smirking at her words. "Stick around, honey. You'll be amazed what she can do."

"Maybe next time she can give me a few more seconds' heads up." Sarah's rifle flashed into her hands. "Remind me to be irritated about that later."

"Whatever you say, dear." He pulled his weapon. "I'm guessin' we're in that weapons research lab."

"Should be if Maya kept to the plan." Her lips whitened as her mouth thinned. "I already have a bad feeling about what we're going to find."

"Because of the prisoners on the warship, yeah." Axton started down the sterile white hall, his gun tight against his shoulder, eyes locked down his sights. "We'll get 'em out, Sarah. Promise."

"It's not just the fact they're prisoners." Her voice was unusually grim. "Axton, have you ever heard of a latent Siren?"

* * *

Axton and Sarah vanished in a flash of light. Maya let her mind follow their thoughts until she was certain they were safely inside the weapons lab, then pulled her focus back to the ship. "Hang on, you two. Your turn."

The air around Zero and Cassidy began to glow purple.

Zero got half a step forward before the phasewalk whisked him off the ship. Cassidy simply dashed out a final series of commands before she was teleported away.

Maya rubbed her eyes. "Well, that's done. Now it's up to them."

Krieg was still looking at the spot Zero had vanished. "He's probably gonna be pissed about you just zapped him off the ship like that."  
Maya sighed, nodding. "I know. But we don't have time to discuss the wisdom of me using this boost right now. If he wants to yell at me later, he's more than welcome."

"Not while _I'm_ around," Krieg growled.

Maya didn't answer. She just allowed herself a little smile at Krieg's 'words'. She'd never been able to hear him so clearly before. It impossible not to take pleasure in it. Anyone else would only have heard his normal, insane, twisted attempts to communicate, but this new power boost allowed her to see the meaning behind his words instantly.

It was like she could hear his very thoughts.

 _Whatever else happens, I got to hear his_ real _voice at least once.  
_ The low hum of the elevator rising out of the floor drew Maya's attention. Zyri was standing on the lift, hands working at her sides as she obviously tried to control her nerves. "Ms. Maya? Where's everyone else? Weren't they up here a minute ago?"

"They air dropped out to their target sites. We're doing a loop back right now for Krieg and my landing site," Maya said, bending the truth slightly in the name of expediency. She motioned to Cassidy's chair. "You take command from there."

"Got it." Zyri walked quickly to the chair and started cycling through the command screens without a second of hesitation. "We're just under two minutes from their perimeter! What are my orders when we arrive?"

Maya smiled thinly. "How does 'burn the place to the ground' work for you?"

"I think I can handle that, ma'am." Grim satisfaction filled her voice. "Where will your teams be? I don't want to hit any of you with your own ship's guns."

"Our targets are in the database," Maya told her. "Just don't shoot the highlighted buildings and it'll be fine."

"Yes, ma'am." Zyri returned her focus to the screen.

Krieg leaned closer to Maya. "You're sure she can do this?" he asked quietly. "This is one hell of a ship for a novice to fly."

"Cassidy trusted her," Maya pointed out.

"And she's grief-stricken over losing Gaige and terrified of losing her brother," Krieg half-snarled. "That's not the best frame of mind to make a choice like this. You could still teleport her back, right?"

"I could." Maya looked into Krieg's eye. "I won't."

"But _why?_ "

Maya wished she could show Krieg what she saw in the girl's memories. Zyri, growing up on starships all her life, learning their operation at her father's knee from the time she could crawl. Her first words being read off a ship's status console. The time as a six-year-old girl she had inadvertently held off a pirate raid, thinking it was the most amazing computer game ever. Other than Cassidy herself, there was no one better suited to fly the _Pearl_ into battle.

All she said was, "I'm sure."

Krieg shrugged. "Then I'll trust you." He glanced out of the dome. "Aren't we due for our 'air drop'?"

"That we are." Maya raised her voice. "Take care of your friends, Zyri. We'll be back soon."

"Aye aye, ma'am! Good luck!"

Maya tipped her head to the lift. "Let's go, Krieg."

"But you could just-"

"Let's _go_ , Krieg." Maya stepped into the lift, trusting Krieg to follow her.

Her expectation proved correct. Krieg was half a step behind her. As credit to his internal self control, he waited until the lift had slid below the deck before he said anything. "You didn't want her to see you phasewalk, did you?"

"I want her focused on the battle," Maya admitted. "Seeing us teleport out might distract her."

Krieg gave a non-committal rumble. "And you're _sure_ you know where to send us?"

"As if every word I said on the bridge about the Order's bases _wasn't_ a total lie." Maya closed her eyes. "The knowledge is _there_ , Krieg. I wonder about an answer, and I _know_ it, even if I shouldn't. And the _power!_ " She clenched her fist, feeling the energy surge beneath her skin. "It's not as strong as it was last time, but it's more versatile, easier to control. The things I can _do_ with it!"

"Zero is worried about you," Krieg reminded her. " _I'm_ worried about you. This thing stole into your mind twice. How can you trust it _again_?"

"It's different this time, Krieg," Maya insisted. "Whatever is feeding me this power and knowledge, it's not the same violent, hateful _thing_ that grabbed me before. That one would have flooded me with power until I burned out. It would have killed me for its own purposes. _This_ one, though..." She smiled tightly, her marks flaring brighter. "If I'd had a father, I like to think this is what his love would have felt like."

Krieg's enormous, rusted, battered, rifle flashed into his hands. "And the one that would have used you up, burned you out...we're going to see it?"

"Oh, yes." The air began to fill with purple-white light. "Whatever _that_ thing is, this new one wants it destroyed." The power swelled within her, and Maya concentrated her mind. A crystal clear image of a building she'd never stood inside filled her mind. "Krieg...I'll understand if you don't want-"

"Don't even _think_ of finishing that sentence," Krieg broke in harshly. "I'm with you, Maya. Always, from the first time I saw you." His weapon's safety clicked off. "Let's go."

There were an infinite number of things Maya knew he wanted to say, now that she could truly hear him. There were just as many she wanted to say back, even more she wanted to do.

All she did was take his arm. All she said was, "Here we go."

The purple light flashed. When the lift doors opened, nothing remained but a fading gleam.

* * *

[Little shorter and a little later than I wanted, and for that, I apologize. I'm going to try and make my updates every ten days or so, but I'm not going to let it gather dust for any longer than that.] 

[Next time, the final assault begins! Thanks for your continued support, patience, and as always, simply reading!] 


	26. Famous last words

Zero knew from past experience a teleport didn't last long. What he _didn't_ know was what awaited him on the far end. He narrowed his focus, body tensing as the light began to fade. He had a brief second to hope Maya had dropped him somewhere isolated.

The phasewalk light vanished and Zero found himself in a large, brightly lit hangar. Weapon lockers lined the walls, ammunition crates were stacked everywhere. There was even something that looked like a Dahl powersuit standing in the center of the room.

And, of course, it was crawling with Order soldiers in the process of arming up.

The flare of Cassidy's phasewalk vanished almost the exact same time as Zero's. She glanced once around at the startled Order troops and offered Zero a mirthless smile. "So much for stealth."

" _Intru-_ "

Zero's arm flashed, burying a kunai in the neck of the man trying to shout his warning. He lunged forward and cleaved a second man in two. The sheer audacity of the attack earned him nearly three seconds of stunned immobility from the Order soldiers.

For a 'man' like Zero, that was a _lot_ of time.

Two more soldiers died under his blade before the rest opened fire on the whirling, leaping blaze of blue light carving through their ranks. _Well trained men indeed,_ Zero reflected. He dodged a salvo, whirled, and slashed another soldier across the chest. _I expected_ nine _seconds Uninterrupted._ He jerked backwards, evading a salvo of gunfire. _Time to get tricky._

Zero lunged at the nearest soldier, his blade leaving a trail of blue in the air behind him. The soldier fired a burst dead center of Zero's chest. His body shimmered as the round passed harmlessly through him-

The soldier screamed as the real Zero's blade plunged through his back and erupted from his chest.

" _Bastard!_ "

Zero pulled his weapon free of the dead soldier, spun and slashed upward at the sound of the shout-

A cascade of sparks showered the deck as Zero's katana slammed against a glowing white broadsword, wielded by a furious soldier. "You _dare_ strike at the Order of the-"

"Less talk." Zero released his sword and stabbed a bladed pistol into the man's chest. "More killing."

{Brother!}

Cassidy's ultrasonic cry warned him just in time. Zero darted sideways, cloaking a millisecond before the sniper's bullet lanced through his hologram's shoulder. Zero whirled, his own sniper rifle flashing into his hands, snapping off an answering shot-

The Order's man vanished from the forehead up. Two more rifle cracks echoed out, and the two men rushing at Cassidy staggered and fell, crimson blooms spreading across their uniforms. {Keep an eye on your six, Cass!}

Cassidy's body flickered and vanished.

{Watch your _own_ back, brother!}

Zero spun around. Cassidy was a foot away from him, her one hand clamped around another Order soldier's face. His skin was blackened, her palm still crackling with electricity. The soldier's hand was clenched tight around the nastiest looking assault rifle that Zero had ever seen.

It was still aimed at his head.

Zero had time to think _Round and round we go_ before another volley of fire ripped through the air. He and Cassidy leapt in opposite directions, both vanishing from the Order's sight.

The Order's soldiers fought better than any Hyperion troops Zero had ever faced. Unfortunately for them, that meant it took seven minutes for Zero and Cassidy to clear them out instead of three.

Zero scanned the armory once more, checking for stray life signs. "We seem to be clear," he reported. "Time to blow this place sky high." He finished searching the armory and looked back at Cassidy. "Are you uninjured?"

"I'm fine." Cassidy had picked up one of the soldier's glowing broadswords and was examining its edge. "Fascinating fabrication. It workings seem startlingly similar to yours, just in a different style."

Zero felt a twinge of uneasiness at Cassidy's detached, almost icy tone. "Cass-"

"I think I'll keep one." The blade vanished, leaving only the hilt and crossguard behind. Cassidy attached it to her belt and turned to Zero. "Sabers _are_ our family's forte."

"If you want to." Zero tried to shove away his misgivings with his sister's eerily cold manner. "We need to destroy all _this_." He waved an arm at the crates of firearms and explosives.

"Any ideas?"

He nodded. "Can you start _that_ up?" He pointed to the Dahl powersuit, still standing idly in the center of the armory.

Cassidy ran her eyes over the armor and nodded. "It looks like an older suit. I should be able to work my way into the operating system."

"Better get started," Zero said. "We'll set its autopilot To blow this place up."

Cassidy nodded and jumped into the suit's empty cockpit. Zero heard the distant click of the keyboard. " _Slow_ startup sequence," she called down. "It'll take me a minute to get it going."

Zero nodded and kept a watchful eye on the silent armory. _This is going well..._

* * *

Axton's rifle barked, and a soldier fell. "You know, honey," he shouted, "sometimes I hate the merc life."

Sarah's gun fired a salvo in the opposite direction as she kept their six o'clock clear. "Oh, really?"

"Yup!" Another blast, another dead Order troop. "Long hours, bad pay, and everyone _always_ trying to kill you." He kicked the fallen man in the ribs as they passed, mostly to guarantee a lack of response.

Mostly.

"You _could_ retire," Sarah pointed out. "Find some quiet little rock and settle down. Left turn up ahead, right at the end of the hall."

"Got it." Axton halted at the left turn Sarah had indicated and lobbed his turret around the corner. The autogun clung to the wall, flared its shield to life, and proceeded to rake the defending Order soldiers with missiles and bullet fire. "There's one problem with retirement," Axton said conversationally over the screams of the dying men. "I wouldn't have days like _these_." He spun into the corridor and added his own assault rifle fire to his turret's.

Sarah moved at the exact same moment, her fire joining his to cut down the last handful of the Order's defenders. "What's so special about today?"

"Today is _easy._ " Axton moved down the hall, weapon trained on its the far end. "No moral ambiguity, no blowin' up trailers in the middle of the night...I don't even have to pick between employers. Nope, today I just get a chance to stop something really, sickeningly _evil._ " He snapped off a single shot, killing yet another unlucky soldier. "I like the black and white days."

"Here's to simplicity." Sarah motioned to a heavy-looking door. "Now let's get this nice, simple door open."

Axton nodded and knelt down, pulling off his pack. "Watch for incoming." He rifled quickly through his grenade stores. "What do you think? High explosive, singularity-"

"Corrosive." Sarah smiled tightly at his surprised expression. "Got the idea from Maya."

"No kiddin'." Axton moved quickly, securing four corrosive grenades to the door. "Better get back."

A moment later, Axton glanced down at Sarah. She gave him a quick nod.

"Fire one!"

The grenades detonated in sickly green clouds of mist. The metal hissed and bubbled, and the door began to sag under its own weight-

"Fire two!"

A pair of Sabre turrets materialized and opened fire on the weakened door, hammering the beleaguered metal with mini-missiles and gunfire. The door exploded inward, and the turrets fell silent.

Axton spun through the door, panning his weapon quickly across the room. "Clear left!"

"Clear right." Sarah let out a long, controlled breath and lowered her weapon. "Dammit. I was hoping we'd found the main holding area. This looks like records."

The room was filled with computer terminals, but nothing more dramatic. Still, a computer room had its uses. "So it's one more step," Axton said tightly, turning back to the door. "Call the ship. See if Zyri can pull the data we need out the mainframe. If she's too busy, you should still be able to get the whole thing uploaded using my ECHO as a datalink." He pulled the device off his belt and tossed it to Sarah. "We can sift through it and find the prison location that way."

"On it." She caught the device and stepped over to the nearest computer tower. "I'm surprised at you, Ax. The most you ever did with computers was shop for new guns or post battlefield selfies. When did you get even a basic understanding of network infiltration and extraction?"

His mouth twisted. "Gaige worked out a way to link my turrets and her robot. She taught me a few things about data uplinks, just in case I ever needed to tweak my ECHO and get it to work better."

"Oh." Sarah kept her eyes on Axton's ECHO. "I'm sorry about your friends, Ax."

"Me too." Axton's gun was fixed on the door, eager for any sign of more Order soldiers. "So let's get this finished and go drink to everyone we've lost on this mission."

She smiled very, very faintly. "Sounds like a plan." The ECHO device beeped. "Got it. The prison section is in the next section of the compound. I'm marking the location." She tossed his ECHO back. "Even better, I was able to shut down most of the security between us and the holding cells. All we should have to deal with are whatever soldiers catch sight of us."

Axton's faced tightened into a grim smirk. "Good. This is going well."

* * *

"Yo, _hermana!_ You got any idea where we're even _going?_ "

Gaige looked back at Salvador and smiled. "Will it make a difference?"

Salvador grunted and looked ruefully at the rock walls of the tunnel. "Nah, but we've been playing 'follow the bug' for what feels like a _long-_ ass time." He made a theatrically sad face and hefted his guns. "I wanna _shoot_ things."

Gaige turned forward again and shook her head in mock annoyance. "That's your problem, Sal. You never look at the bigger picture."

"'Bigger picture'?" Salvador scoffed, his own tone matching the playful irritation in Gaige's. "What's more important than shooting things?"

Gaige started to make a suitably light-hearted response, but her mind flitted back to the warm feeling of the vast mind all around her, of the deep affection she'd sensed flowing out from the enormous consciousness. That something so powerful, so ancient had not only needed her help, but also respected such a tiny thing as a human...it stilled the joke in her throat. "I can think of one thing."

Salvador's grunt of response echoed around the tunnel. "Just hadto make it _serious_ , didn't you, _hermana_?"

"Just this once, Sal. Promise." Gaige increased her pace slightly, pulling up next to Bugtrap. "How about it, boy? Are we close?"

The insect chirped once and skittered ahead, following the narrow, twisting, dimly glowing Eridium veins in the tunnel walls.

Gaige heard the rapid crunch of footsteps. "So we don't know where we're going," Salvador grumbled, coming up beside her. "What're we even _looking_ for? The big brain didn't really tell us much."

Gaige shrugged. "Beats me." She offered him a dubious smile. "But I'd guess we'll know when Bugtrap-"

A piercing wave of noise slammed their ears, making both Hunters wince. A second later, the sound of gunfire, energy blasts, and men shouting filtered back through the air.

"-finds what he's looking for!"

Gaige and Salvador broke into a flat-out sprint, racing toward the sound of battle. The tunnel curved a few yards ahead, and she noticed a green-white light leaking from around the corner-

They rounded the corner and found the tunnel ended in another crystal chamber very much like the one Bugtrap had teleported them out of. The crystals here glowed green instead of blue, but the crystal column in the chamber's center was even more massive than the one they'd spoken to.

Gaige only had time to get a quick flash of impression of this new chamber before her attention was wrenched away. Bugtrap strafed through her field of vision, a whirl of black wings and silver claws striking from the air. Nearly a dozen men- soldiers by the look of their weapons and attire- were scattered around the chamber, shouting to each other in the tightly controlled, militarily urgent manner Axton still used when the situation was at its worst.

It was easy to see why. Three men already lay dead, blood leaking from shredded backs or chests. The insect spun in mid-air, shrieking as it dove towards its fourth intended victim-

_This_ soldier was ready. As Bugtrap plummeted at the man, an orange beam of energy lanced out of the odd-looking weapon in his hands. The beam struck the insect like a battering ram, knocking it out of the air and leaving it helpless on the cavern floor. The twelve remaining soldiers took aim with similar weapons-

Gaige's vision went red. " _Back off, you bastards!_ "

She clenched her fist.

Deathtrap exploded into the fray. His arms were still trailing light as his claws sliced through his first target. His own laser scorched across the cavern, lancing through a bewildered-looking soldier-

" _Rogue see bee bee! Deploy your-_ "

Gaige opened up with her shotgun, her fire cutting the man down mid-sentence. She raked the chamber with bullets, her fire slashing through another four men before anyone even noticed the two Hunters. Salvador wiped out another five with a sustained volley and wild laughter, while Deathrap burned away the next-to-last man alive. Gaige swept the room quickly- she was _certain_ there had been more soldiers-

"Stay back!"

The last of the fighters was standing over the fallen insect, aiming his odd-looking gun with an unsteady, one-handed grip. The other hand clutched a metal cylinder half the length of Gaige's arm. "One more step and I'll kill this thing!"

Gaige glanced down and saw something eerily close to malicious amusement in those glowing blue eyes. "Eh...I doubt it."

The was a ripple of air, a steak of blue light...and the soldier's gun was in Bugtrap's teeth.

Along with half his arm.

It took the soldier a lifetime of a few seconds to realize his gun arm ended in a dripping stump. Gaige could see rage fill his eyes even faster than pain or horror, saw his remaining thumb move to press one of the glowing switches on the metal rod-

A pair of dull _thumps_ echoed wetly around the chamber. The soldier had one final second to notice Bugtrap's silver, scythe-like claws buried in his chest before the remainder of his life drained away. The metal rod dropped out his hand and clattered to the ground.

Salvador whistled as Bugtrap freed itself from the body. "Damn, buggy. I don't think even _Zero_ is that fast."

The insect made a pleased sounding gurgle and scooped up the metal rod in its teeth. It clicked its way over to Gaige and offered it to her with an air of pride, like a retriever offering its catch to its master.

"Aw, you shouldn't have," Gaige said dryly. She took the rod and ran a curious eye over its surface. "The heck is this, anyway?"

"Forget the jumbo grenade!" Salvador crowed. "Did you see these _guns?!_ "

"I don't think it _is_ a grenade," she mused, running her fingers over the cylinder. "I feel like I've seen something like this before, but-"

"They're lasers _, hermana_!" Salvador's voice was almost choked with joyful tears. " _Lasers!_ "

She looked at him quickly. "You're kidding me."

"Nope! Come see!"

Gaige stowed the tube in her storage deck and headed over to Salvador. She was so focused on Salvador's claim she missed Bugtrap's disapproving chitter.

"Which one had a laser?" she asked.

"All of 'em! Take a look!"

Gaige darted over to the nearest fallen soldier and pried the sizeable weapon from his deceased grasp. "I'll be... it _is_ a laser." She traced her fingers over its surface, examining the weapon's details. "Amazing. I didn't think you could _make_ a laser weapon that functioned in an atmosphere like this." A frown worked onto her face. "These guys must have one _hell_ of an R  & D department working for them."

"Who _cares?!_ " Salvador cackled. He was moving from body to body, collecting lasers as he went. "I'm gonna use the _hell_ out of these things, you just watch!"

"Until you run out of ammo."

"Naaaah. You'll figure out some way to charge 'em," Salvador said cheerfully. "How hard can it be?"

"Could actually- ouch!" Gaige let out a startled yelp as the insect whacked its large, metal head against her normal, flesh-and-bone shoulder. "Bugtrap! What are you doing?!"

It chittered irritably and swung its head towards the crystal column, then back to Gaige with an urgent whistle.

Gaige followed its gaze and felt her pulse quicken. "Sal, look. Over by the column."

Salvador glanced up from collecting lasers. "That looks like the same kind of computer we saw before."

"Yes. Yes, it does." Gaige headed for the computer, trying to keep from breaking into an eager run. Her fingers itched to lay into the keyboard. "If the setup here is anything like the first one, I think I can start letting power back into this section of the network in a few minutes."

She was too excited to notice the uneasy look Salvador gave the cavern walls. "You sure that's a good idea? This place doesn't look like the last one."

"I noticed." Gaige's hands raced over the keyboard as she accessed the computer's files. "I'm guessing they did something to the programming encoded on the light energy."

"They did what now?"

"I'm just guessing, but I think it was something to put the planet's AI under their control," Gaige said grimly. "This energy they've got stored here has a _completely_ different signature than the blue stuff we found before. It's much simpler, and easier to..." She glanced at Salvador's face and trailed off. "Lost you again, huh?"

"Yup."

She grimaced slightly and went back to the keyboard. "They ripped out everything that made the mind what it was. Its intelligence, its will, its _personality_. This green _stuff_ " she waved a hand at the walls "is all that's left."

Bugtrap hissed. Its teeth gleamed in the light, and its claws clattered against each other in obvious fury.

Salvador frowned and peered over Gaige's shoulder. "Why'd they do that?"

"To control the AI," she answered grimly. "Carve out everything except docile compliance, then let the energy back into the network, and presto!" Her mouth twisted into a sneer. "A whole Eridian supercomputer, completely under your control."

He scratched his head. "So what did they want with it?"

Gaige's fingers paused in their rapid-fire typing. "Um...you might not like what I'm thinking."

Salvador folded his arms and frowned at her. " _Hermana..._ "

"Anthemusa, Sal." Gaige's mouth was a tight line as she kept typing. "These guys named this planet after the island home of the Sirens. The AI referred to someone _we_ know as its _daughter,_ and that she loved us very much." Her eyes were locked on the screen, her fingers moving faster than ever. "Does that give you the same bad feeling it gives me?"

" _Madre de dios._ " Salvador's hands tightened on his gunbelt. "You think...you think this has somethin' to do with _Maya?_ "

"At least eighty percent sure," Gaige said darkly. "The only way to know for sure is to ask the planet itself, and I can't do that until I undo whatever they did to the AI's programming."

"Turn the green glowy stuff blue again?"

"That's the goal."

"Then keep it up, _hermana._ " Salvador pulled both his weapons, training them on the passage into the chamber. "If anyone shows up, I'll keep 'em off ya."

"You got it, buddy," Gaige promised. "This'll work, I _know_ 'll free the AI, wipe these dicks off the planet, and maybe even get Maya some of the answers she's been looking for."

Salvador glanced around at the fallen soldiers. "Keep it up, then. So far, things are going well."

* * *

Krieg's weapon was ready the instant he rematerialized, but Maya laid a hand on his wrist. "It's alright, Krieg. There's no one in this part of the building."

He growled and ran his eye around the wide, plush corridor. "You're sure?"

"No one with hostile intent or an on-guard mind," Maya amended. "I'd feel it."

Krieg's grunt didn't sound entirely convinced, but he still slung his rifle. He replaced it just as quickly with his buzz ace, though. "Where to, Pretty Lady?"

Maya let herself enjoy the old nickname for a second before refocusing on the task at hand. "This way."

Krieg followed her down the empty halls lined with elaborate paintings and various trappings of wealth. "Pretty fancy for a far-flung outpost like this."

"It's the administrative HQ for the Order's war efforts," Maya pointed out grimly. "Sophis would have called this place 'woefully under-lavish'. Hold up." She halted, looking down another empty hall. "This corridor is loaded with traps."

"You sure?"

Maya's tattoos pulsed. Fountains of sparks and fire spewed out of the walls as hidden weapons exploded in their concealment. " _Very_ sure."

"Huh." Krieg looked down at Maya, and she almost could feel his smile. "I could've taken the hits, though."

"You don't have to." She took his free hand and started past the destroyed traps. "More to the point, I don't _want_ you to." Her fingers tightened on Krieg's. "I'm not losing any more friends to these bastards."

Krieg didn't say anything as Maya led them through the halls. She had the impression he wasn't sure what to-

Maya halted abruptly as they neared the end of the corridor, her line of thought disrupted. Between the distance and smoke from the destroyed traps, she hadn't been able to get a clear look at the end of the hall. Now, as that smoke began to clear, she could see a massive steel door in front of her. "There, Krieg. That's our goal."

He glanced down at her. "You okay?"

"I'm...fine." Maya shook her head, trying to chase off the mental cobwebs that fogged her mind. "I'm good, really. But I'm definitely feeling drawn whatever's on the other side of that door."

Krieg's hand tightened around hers. "You're sure?"

She nodded.

He pulled free and cracked his knuckles. "Okay, then. Leave this to me."

Maya's eyes widened slightly as Krieg walked up to the door and drew his arm back. "Um, you don't-"

Krieg's blow dented the door and left a resonant _clang_ hanging in the air around them. His third punch buckled the door on its hinges. His fifth sent the massive steel barrier flying out of its frame and into the dark room beyond.

He stepped aside, panting slightly, a faint sheen of sweat coating his upper body. "After you."

Maya closed her mouth and decided _not_ to say she could have just melted the door. She could feel his satisfaction at having removed it for her; it seemed a shame, and maybe a little cruel, to point out she could have done it better.

Besides, she'd liked watching him work. _I_ _certainly can't argue with the results._

"Thank you, Krieg." She walked in, her eyes darting quickly over his glistening form as she passed. _All_ _the results._ Maya looked forward, through the ragged doorframe, and frowned. "What the..." She glanced back over her shoulder, then ahead again. "What the _hell?_ "

Behind her was the formal, almost-plush hallway, still leaking smoke from a dozen destroyed hidden weapons. But through the door was a rough, rocky tunnel, barely tall enough for Krieg to stand up straight in. The ground sloped gently underfoot, a curving rocky path that led unmistakeably down.

"They dug an underground passage," Maya said in a baffled voice. She ran a hand over the wall, feeling the cool stone under her fingers. "They built this whole building, then dug a plain tunnel _down._ "

Krieg's axe was back in his hands. "You're sure it's this way?"

"Positive." The urge to head down the rocky corridor was almost overwhelming now. "I just don't see why they did this."

Krieg started forward, his massive bulk nearly filling the small tunnel. "Only one way to find out."

Maya didn't protest walking behind Krieg, but she didn't take time to enjoy the view, either. She kept her senses stretched as far out as she thought she could, trying to get some kind of mental picture of what lay before them.

They hadn't gone more than a few hundred yards before she felt something at the edge of her mind. "Hold it, Krieg."

He stopped instantly, fist tight on his axe handle. "What've you got?"

"There's someone up ahead." Maya focused on the flow of thoughts whispering over her mind. "One man, I think. He doesn't seem to be aware of us." She frowned and rubbed her forehead. "He's probably not a soldier, but we should still be careful."

"Got it." Krieg slung his axe, pulled his rifle, and started forward again.

Maya kept her focus on the single mind ahead of them...or was it two? She felt like she could sense _something_ else, but she wasn't certain...

She stumbled as she walked into Krieg's back, so tightly wrapped in her own thoughts she hadn't noticed he'd stopped. "Krieg? What-"

"You should see this." He sounded odd, distant. "I think it's what we're looking for."

Maya frowned and walked around Krieg's wide form, trying to see what he was looking at.

Her mouth dropped open.

The tunnel ended in a massive cavern. The walls and floor were colorless crystal, featureless but for the material's natural facets. There were also a few green, glowing cylinders scattered about, their purpose unknown.

But it was the spire that seized her eye. An enormous crystal column stretched up a hundred feet, from the cavern floor to its ceiling. It swirled with color, a motley maelstrom of light, blue one second, then purple, then green.

Maya watched the colors whirl and blur and spin. She felt dizzy watching the column's light blazing out from the spire. Her stomach tightened every time the purple light washed over her, only fading reluctantly when the blue filled the crystal confines.

"Captivating, isn't it, child?"

Maya's eyes whipped to the base of the spire. She caught sight of a robed figure, small and frail against the wash of color. " _You..._ "

Krieg looked doubtfully at the old man, then down to Maya. "This is the mind you sensed?"

"That's him," she confirmed.

He grunted and gave the robed figure another look. "This old guy hardly looks worth the bullet."

"Just as well." Maya stepped past Krieg and started towards the old man. "I need to talk to him."

"What for?" Krieg asked, keeping pace at her side. "What could this old guy tell you?"

"I'm betting he can tell us everything about what the Order is up to," Maya said grimly. She stopped a few yards from the robed man and the spire. "After all, he was Sophis' right hand for years." She folded her arms and glared at him, trying to ignore the swirling colors behind him. "Weren't you, Brother Harker?"

The robed man made a clear effort to hide his terror and smile. "Hello, Maya." His gaze flicked up to her head. "I see you finally cut your hair."

"Sophis was the one that liked it long," Maya growled. " _I_ wanted to chop it off years ago."

"It suits you," Harker agreed. "You look well."

"I am," she replied icily. "Far better than I ever was at the abbey."

"Yes." Brother Harker at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "Child- Maya- back then-"

"I'm also _much_ better than your victims," she interrupted.

He winced. "You don't under-"

_"Don't_ tell me I don't understand." Maya's voice was low and dangerous. "Don't you _dare_ tell me anything about why you 'had to', or how they're 'serving the Order.'" Her tattoos pulsed with light. "You strapped innocent girls into Eridium pumping systems. You turned people into weapons for your own selfish purposes." Her mind ached with the strain of not phaslocking Harker where he stood and rending him limb from limb. "I saw it, Harker. I saw your victims ferried across the galaxy like cattle. I saw the results of your 'latent Siren' program on three teenaged girls and their _five-year-old sister_."

"I didn't-"

Maya's control snapped. She lunged forward, seizing Harker's robes at his throat and dragging him and inch from her face. "Didn't _what,_ Harker?! Start an intergalactic war that's killing millions?! Enslave countless people to serve your own twisted needs?!" Her expression flickered as she felt panic twist in his mind. "Or...did you just not _stop_ it?"

"I _couldn't_ stop it!" Harker's voice was choked as he tried to squeeze the words past Maya's fist. "They came back a month after you left, Maya! Without Sophis, I couldn't stop them!"

Maya glanced at Krieg, confusion in her eyes. "What are you talking about? Who came back?"

"The Paladins!" he gasped. "They returned! _They_ started all this, not me!"

Krieg frown was obvious even with his mask in place. "What's he talking about, Maya?"

"An Order myth," Maya snorted. "An old story about a group of warriors sent out to learn the truth about Vaults and Sirens. They swore an oath never to return to Athenas without completing that mission." She opened her fist and dropped Harker to the ground. "It's a decades old piece of propaganda designed to keep the Order's followers in line."

"No," Harker coughed. "No, it's true. They came back to Athenas." He shuddered. "Their ships were antiques, but somehow more powerful then the rest of our entire defense fleet. They didn't even destroy our defenses; they just shrugged off all the fire and breezed right through." He looked up at Maya, and she could see the terror in his eyes. "They said they had completed their mission, and had returned to prepare us for the Storm."

Fury raced through Maya. "And part of preparing for 'the Storm' was going to war with Dahl? Seizing as much materiel and conscripting everyone they could? Experimenting on unwilling people?!"

Harker looked at the ground. "They said it was necessary."

Krieg gave an impatient growl. "Maya, we don't have time for this."

Maya glared down at Harker for another few seconds, then nodded. "You're right. He doesn't matter." She turned away. "Let's go."

"Wait!"

Something in Harker's voice made her hesitate. She half turned back, her SMG flaring into her hand. "You have something else to say to me?"

"Just... that I'm glad you came here," Harker said. He pushed himself back to his feet, wobbling slightly. "I wasn't sure you would find your way to me, but you did."

Maya shook her head in disgust and turned away. "Believe me, if I'd know _you_ were going to be in here-"

"You felt drawn here, didn't you."

She stopped. "How did you know that?"

He motioned to the glowing crystal behind him. "There's more to this planet than you know, Maya. The Paladins found something here, but they needed _you_ to make it theirs." His face fell. "When they learned what you'd killed Sophis, where you'd gone, they were forced to consider...alternatives."

Maya took a step back toward Harker. "You mean the experiments to forcibly awaken a latent Siren's powers."

"That's exactly what I mean," Harker said, unaware of what Krieg was advising. "They would have used your power to unlock the secrets of this world. With you beyond their reach, they were forced to do the reverse: use the world to unlock the secrets of the Sirens."

"The secrets of..." Maya took another step forward. "How much have they learned?"

"Maya." Krieg's hand clamped down on her shoulder. "We should leave. Leave, or kill him _now._ "

"Just a second." She pushed his hand away impatiently. "What did they find out? Something about how Sirens came to be? What makes us what we are?"

"All that and more," Harker answered grimly. "Enough knowledge to plunge the Six Galaxies into chaos, madness, and terror for centuries. Enough information to make their current war with Dahl look like a child's game." A faintly relieved smile appeared on his lips. "Which is why I'm so pleased you're here."

Harker took a step forward, and she could see a demented gleam in his eyes. "You will end this, Maya. You will destroy the Paladins, sever them completely from this place, and help _me_ restore the Order to its true purpose." He grinned with as a dark and twisted madness as Maya had ever seen. "With the power of this world within you, and you yourself at my hand, we can accomplish things even _Sophis_ never dreamed of."

" _That's_ not happening," Maya growled coldly. " I'm not helping _you_ with _anything_. I'm going to take out this base, I _am_ going to stop what's going on here, and then I never want to see you again." She pointed a glowing finger at him. "I don't care if you survive this, Harker. If _you_ care, stay out of my way and _never_ look for me once I leave."

Harker shook his head. "Simply destroying this place isn't enough. You must cut them off from the wellspring of their power." He held up his hand, and Maya saw a tiny box with a single button on it. "And I will give you the strength to do it."

He pressed the button.

Krieg dashed at Harker, seizing his hand with enough force that Maya heard the bones crack, but it was too late. Sparks erupted from the equipment around the cavern as the electronic equipment shorted out. The energy in the glowing cylinders seemed to leak into the walls, filling the room with their sickly green light-

"Agh!" Maya doubled over as her stomach clenched. Her breathing turned to ragged gasps, and she collapsed to one knee. It felt like a fist was clamping down on her mind, crushing her thoughts into powder.

" _Maya!_ "

Krieg's voice echoed out to her from far away. She could hear his panic, but she couldn't muster the strength to respond.

"What did you _do?!_ " Another _crack_ of bone, and Harker shrieked in agony. "What did you _do_ to her?!"

" _Maya! Help me, child!_ "

Harker's scream compelled her to act. She straightened up and saw Krieg shove his ancient gun into Harker's stomach-

The weapon disintegrated into dust.

_Did..._ I _do that?_

" _Get him off meGETHIMOFFME!_ "

Maya felt her arm move, as if someone else were lifting it for her. A flare of light burst from her palm, and Krieg went hurtling to the far side of the room. He slammed into the wall, shook his head, and clambered back to his feet, murder in his eye and a savage roar echoing up from deep in his chest-

"Stop him, child!"

Another flash of light, and Krieg's body went rigid. A tight field of energy glittered around him, binding him where he stood.  
_What is going_ ON _?!_

The words shrieked out of her mind, but not her throat. She couldn't seem to make her body do anything she wanted. It was as if her consciousness, her will, was shackled to the inside of her skull.

"Good work, child."

Maya tried to turn her head, but it was like her neck had changed to stone. She was forced to continue staring at the restrained Krieg as Harker shuffled into her field of view, limping and gasping in pain. He was cradling his left arm, and a red stain covered the same side of his robes.

_What the hell did you_ DO _to me?!_

Again, the words only resounded off the inside of her mind.

Harker pressed a hand to his side and gasped in pain. "Heal me, Maya. Restore my strength before I die!"

Maya's arm started to rise-

_No!_

She hesitated.

"What's wrong, child?" Harker demanded, agony mixed with with irritation on his face. "Heal me!"

Light flared. Maya heard his bones _snap_ back into place, saw the pain fade from Harker's eyes. She hoped for a second the field holding Krieg would weaken, but he remained immobilized.

Harker sighed in relief. "Much better." He glared at Krieg. "This new paramour of yours is far more brutish than Stephen ever was. Why do you even care for him?"

"He's loyal." The sound of Maya's own voice shocked her. She hadn't chosen to speak, the words simply forced their way out. "He's honest. He loves me for who I am, not what I can do for him."

"Interesting," Harker said in a disturbing tone. "Is that _all_ you see in him?"

"No." Maya's voice stopped, and the Maya trapped in her own body felt a mingled surge of relief...and dread.

"Well? What else drew you to him?"

"He was the most chiseled man I'd ever seen."

Maya wanted to curl into a ball, but she couldn't even make herself blush.

"I'd never seen a physique like that other than on the marble statues in the abbey."

_Oh god, just STOP-!_

"Then he saved my life, and I started to realize there was more to him than a set of abs hand-carved by a master craftsman."

"Yes, yes, honor, loyalty, all those other virtues you extolled," Harker interrupted brusquely. "So if it were your choice, what would you do with him?"

"Take him back to the ship and reenact pages three-oh-one to three-thirty-five of _The Dangerous Temptations of the Pink Flower._ "

_Oh my god SHUT UP._

Harker raised an eyebrow, and, to Maya's amazement, went slightly red. "You _have_ changed. No, what I meant is, how do you recommend I deal with him?"

_Turn him loose, you bastard!_

"I recommend you free him."

_It..._ worked _?_

"Oh, really?" Harker gave an infuriatingly smug chuckle. "And just why do you say that?"

"Because he'll rip you apart." Maya could hear the slimmest edge of savage eagerness in her voice. "He'd kill a pathetic scrap of a man like you in two seconds. He'd skip rope with your intestines, play baseball with your skull-"

" _Enough._ "

Maya's jaw clamped shut as satisfied rage and uncertain horror raced through her. _That_ damn _temper of mine!_

"Well, he already had one go at that." Harker glowered at Krieg for a moment before walking behind Maya. "I don't think we'll give him another chance."

A physical weight lifted from Maya's shoulders as a figurative one crashed through her stomach. _No!_

"A Maliwan submachine gun," Harker mused, coming back into her eyeline. Maya's SMG lay in his hands, his fingers tracing over its surface. "Fine weapon. Where _is_ the safety...ah. Here we go." He raised the weapon to his shoulder, taking aim at Krieg's chest.

_Nononono-_

The light in the crystal walls flickered blue once, then flared back to green.

"I'd considered having you do this yourself," Harker commented, sighting carefully. "But your hesitation to heal me shows this control technique isn't as effective on you as on our latent Siren test subjects. No matter." His finger reached for the trigger. "I'll deal with him myself."

Maya's eyes locked with Krieg's. She could see, could _feel_ his helpless rage, his fear for her rather than himself-

_Don't do it!_

Harker fired.

A hail of burning metal tore into Krieg's torso. He jerked within the energy field, and Maya saw the pain sear its way into his eye.

Restrained as he was, he couldn't scream.

Maya did. Every fiber of her mind shrieked his name, struggling to free herself from the maddening immobility forced on her, desperate to help him. _If I can get to him, heal him-_

Krieg's body slumped ever so slightly within the field as blood streamed from his shredded chest. His single eye slipped closed...and Maya knew the truth.

The first man to ever love her, the first man she'd ever thought she might be able to love in return, was dead.

" _NO! KRIEG!"_

A wave of power exploded out of Maya's body with the words. It crashed into Harker, slamming him to the ground and setting patches of his robes aflame. Maya lunged forward, barely registering that she could move again, that she'd somehow broken whatever had been restraining her.

The walls and spire blazed with piercing blue-white light, but Maya didn't even notice. She wrenched Harker off the ground by his smoldering clothes and whirled him around.

" _You bastard!_ " Maya's hand closed around Harker's throat. His fingers clawed at her grip, his feet dangling uselessly in the air. " _Give him back to me, you bastard! Give him BACK!_ "

"What-what are you doing child?!" Harker's voice came out strangled, barely able to make it past Maya's throttling hand. "Put my down, now!"

Maya's temper surged at the words, her face twisting into a snarl. " _Wrong._ "

_SNAP_

She cast the body aside without a second thought. It landed in a heap on the ground, robes still smoldering and neck at an unnatural angle.

She was at Krieg's side before it hit the ground. The energy field was gone, leaving him a crumpled mound. "Krieg, answer me!"

No response from the slowly cooling form in her arms.

"No..." Maya stared down at his shredded chest, her eyes burning. "No, you can't die like this..." Her fists clenched, digging into the heavily muscled, stiffening arms. "I won't _let_ you die like this."

Maya closed her eyes and stretched out with her mind. She cast her thoughts into the darkness of rage and hate, seeking out that intense pressure-

_**I knew you would come to me.** _

_You were right._

_**Surrender yourself to me. Let me destroy my enemies through you-** _

_Shut UP._

_**What?!** _

_I'm not here to do your will._ In her mind's eye, she plunged hands of white-blue light into the darkness. _I'm here for your power._

Maya felt the force wave, felt its confusion at her resistance to its control. She ignored the feeling, focusing her mind on the search for the power she knew it controlled-

_There!_

The strength flowed into her, struggling against her pull, but Maya's will was irresistible. A surge of power flooded into her body all at once, ripping a scream from her as it cascaded through her. Her skin crackled with energy; her markings pulsed almost too brightly to look at.

She laid her fingers on Krieg's tattered chest. " _ **Come back to me, Krieg.**_ "

The energy rippled over her body, down her arms, through her fingers, into Krieg's flesh.

" _ **You**_ **will** _ **live.**_ "

The mangled flesh knitted under Maya's fingers. She focused her mind and seized Krieg's heart in a psychic grip, squeezing it and forcing blood through his veins again. She could sense the bullets still lodged in his body, and with a thought, vaporized them to nothing. She applied more of her stolen power, weaving together wounded skin, muscle, and bone-

Krieg sucked in a rough gasp, his eye slamming open. He gave a ragged cough and looked around blearily. "May...aaahh?"

Maya sagged, her strength vanishing as the fear and determination evaporated in glorious relief. "Thank _god._ " She crushed Krieg's head to her chest, a strange, unfamiliar lump in her throat. "I thou-"

_**You are MINE.** _

A wave of hatred surged forward, clamping onto Maya's mind, the burning of claws rage sinking into her consciousness. She tried to struggle against the smothering weight, but her mind was sluggish, drained after her efforts to wield her stolen power. She lashed out with what strength she could muster, but it felt weak, feeble, barely slowing the ocean of savagery enveloping her.

_**Now, you are my weapon.** _

Maya felt her body drifting away from Krieg, levitating effortlessly through the air. She saw him slump to the ground, then roll himself onto his stomach and reach for her, his hand straining for hers.

She couldn't even twitch her fingers in response. Her eyesight began to darken, her consciousness begin to fade.

Maya had time for one last thought before everything went dark: _It was all going so well..._

 

* * *

[First, I wanna give a huge apology to all of you for taking so long in getting this one finished. I ended up doing a couple rewrites, going slower than expected, and then, _right_ when I was just about to post...my laptop died. Agh.] 

[BUT I got my data mostly recovered, and I think I should be ready with the FINAL CHAPTER and epilogue in one to two weeks. A very heartfelt thank you to everyone that asked if I was still writing, and to everyone that came back after my unexpected delay. Thank you all for continuing to read!] 

[7/14 UPDATE: STILL ALIVE! Haven't forgotten, and I'm still working on the ending. It's just being stubborn with me. Thanks for being patient!] 

[8/18: NOPE. NOT DEAD. I've actually made some forward progress, amazingly enough. Why is it that the last chapter of something is always so hard to finish? Anyway, still at it. Thanks for reading!]


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